I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.!: 

■ §° I I 

$ ■ . — — . ^ : 

| UNITED STATES OP AMERICA, f 



4 *M 



SERMONS, 



Lectures, and Essays. 



JOSEPH H. CREIGHTON, A. M., 

Of the Ohio Conference. 



to ..M3iJJr 



CINCINNATI: 
HITCHCOCK AND WALDEN, 

NEW YORK: 
NELSON AND PHILLIPS. 
1875. 



THE LIBRARY 
Ot CONGftgftj 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by 

JOSEPH H. CEEIGHTOK, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



PBEFACE. 



Knowing how difficult it is for any one to 
speak of himself, or his own work, the author 
of this hook has but a short Preface to write. 
The book was written at the suggestion of 
many friends. If it should appear that their 
judgment is exceeded by their friendship, he 
trusts that the reader may not see as many 
faults as he does himself. We have not al- 
lowed the severity of our taste to have full 
sway, knowing that many a book has been 
spoiled by excessive nicety and precision. 
These discourses are not reproductions as de- 
livered, but contain many of the same thoughts; 
and whatever they are, they are claimed to 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

be original. I am not quite willing to go out of 
the world, and leave nothing of all my preach- 
ing and lecturing thoughts. 

J. H. CREIGHTON. 
Columbus, O., May 1, 1875. 



CONTENTS 



SERMONS. 

PAGE. 

I. The Scriptures, . . . • . .9 
II. What Think Ye of Christ ? . . . 30 

III. Miracles, 40 

IV. Choice, 50 

V. Faith, . ... . . . . 60 

VI Holiness, . . 71 

VII. The Training of Children, ..... 91 

VIII. The Tongue, 105 

IX. Missions, 118 

X. The Sting of Death, 150 

XI. Heaven, 159 

LECTURES. 

I. The Manner of Preaching, . . . .171 

II. Brains, 187 

III. General Education Necessary to a Eepublican 

Government, . . . . . . .198 

IV. Circumstantial Evidence of the Truth of Scrip- 

ture, 207 

V. Reply to Archbishop Purcell, . . . 217 



vi 



CONTENTS. 



ESSAYS. 

I. Able Ministers, '^cj 

II. Lawful Pleasures, ..... 259 

III. Ritualism, / 268 

IV. Tobacco, 281 



Sermons, Lectures, and Essays. 



SERMONS. 



THE SCRIPTURES. 

"Search the Scriptures."— John v, 39. 

Were it not for the Scriptures the history of the 
first two thousand years of the forenoon of time 
would be nothing but a fabulous legend, or mytho- 
logical night. The Bible is the most ancient and 
time-honored monument of antiquity. It has sur- 
vived all the old books, and is as new and fresh to- 
day as when first written on new parchment rolls, or 
leaves of the papyrus. It begins its history where 
the morning stars sung the first note of joy over the 
young creation, and where the sons of God shouted 
for joy over the first beams of the new-made sun. 

It was written by about fifty authors during a pe- 
riod of about fifteen hundred years, from first to last. 
The circumstances attending the writing are worthy 
of special attention. Some portions were written in 
the center of Asia; some amid the sands of Arabia; 
some in Judea, in the temple of the Jews; some in 
the schools of the prophets of Bethel and Jericho; 



10 



SERMONS. 



some in the sumptuous palaces of Babylon, on the 
idolatrous banks of the Chebar, amid monstrous Pan- 
theism and Polytheism. 

The writers did not all write in the same lan- 
guage, nor in the same times, nor were they of the 
same education and philosophy. The first one (Moses) 
was born and educated among the Egyptians, and 
was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians. 
Another (Ezra) was a Jewish captive to Babylon. 
Two were poet kings and mighty men of valor. One 
was a prime minister (Daniel) through four political 
administrations of a foreign country where he was, 
or had been, a captive. One was an assessor (Mat- 
thew) under a pagan government. Two were hum- 
ble fishermen of Galilee (Peter and John). The 
greatest of them all, and the most considerable writer 
of the New Testament, was a learned tent-maker 
(Paul), who was first a persecutor. 

If we consider all these circumstances together 
they are very remarkable,— tta number of authors 
and the different languages in which they wrote; 
the different countries in which they lived; the long 
period of time from the first to the last writing- 
and the widely different kinds of education and tal- 
ent of the different writers, and all done before the 
art of printing was known, when language itself 
must have been poor and narrow in compass. 
Taking all these things together, and then considering 
the book in its unity of doctrine and design, we must 
conclude that one great unerring author must have 



THE SCRIPTURES. 



11 



inspired these men to write this book, otherwise it 
would be a heterogeneous mass of wild speculation. 

Let us suppose a case. Let a book now be com- 
menced—fifty men to write it; let one live in United 
States, another in England, another in China, another 
in France, and another in Germany. Let one be 
learned in all the learning of Oxford ; let another be- 
lieve in Rationalism, another in Catholicism, another 
in Buddhism, and so on. Let one write in English, 
another in Chinese, another in German, another in 
French. At the end of many years put these 
writings together, and call the collection a book; 
what kind of a book would it be ? You can hardly 
think of a way by which you could make so remark- 
able a book of contradictions as this ; if, indeed, the 
first writings did not become obsolete before the last 
were ^written. 

And consider, further, that the Bible was written 
before true science or civilization had any existence ; 
when it was supposed the earth was flat (and men do 
yet where there is no Bible), and the sun went round 
the earth; when their chemistry taught that there 
were but four elements — earth, air, fire, and water; 
when the great nations were savages, scarcely above 
the smartest animals. 

Now compare this book with any other book or 
thing that was made in those times, and you will 
see the striking contrast. Take a plow, or bed, or 
wagon, or any thing used by man, and when com- 
pared with modern inventions, it would be the ridicule 



12 SERMONS. 

of our children. But here is the old Book of books, 
new and fresh, true and tried, the admiration of 
scholars and philosophers, having crossed the ages of 
time and change with no rust on its crest, or exploded 
doctrine to leave behind ; still in the race and ahead 
of all books ; translated into all languages throughout 
all the zones and climes of the earth; unhurt by 
science and all the accumulated lore of ages, its mis- 
sion is through all time, to all peoples and tongues, 
till this world comes to its end, and the great poly- 
glot has fulfilled its own prophecies. 

But what may be found in this Book ? We answer, 
First, The only rational account of God. 
We say only rational account, for though there 
are traces of truth on this subject floating through 
the philosophies and religions of the world, yet they 
are so loaded with absurdities, and darkened by hu- 
man conjectures, that we say they are not rational. 
What has been the most common belief of those peo- 
ple of ancient times who had no revelation concern- 
ing God ? Undoubtedly it was that the sun is God. 
After that comes the multitude of the heavenly host ; 
then the various phenomena of nature— heat, light, 
and motion; then come the innumerable gods of 
wood and stone, with supposed passions, viler than 
men, and kindred to devils. 

When we say these things we do not allude to the 
ignorant multitude, but to the best of the pagan 
writers, who lead those nations : the authors and pro- 
motors of all the religion these groveling millions 



THE SCRIPTURES. 



13 



have; and we include the great names of classic 
Greece and Rome, with all the boasted philosophy of 
the East. But you may say this is a very mysteri- 
ous subject— can the Bible give us any thing better? 
The answer is that remarkable answer to Moses, 
who inquired for the people the name of God. Mark 
well the answer. No material physical body with 
shape or outline ; no local, tangible, visible creature 
that could be lowered to the carnal conception of man. 
But the answer was, I am ; giving the great law- 
giver the idea of absolute and eternal supremacy, with 
all independence and original existence, "before all 
things and by whom all things consist." This is ra- 
tional, and carries conviction with it, " argumentum 
ad judicium." 

We are aware that a few of the pagan writers 
did hold views of God above the common multitude 
of their times; but there is good evidence that 
Socrates, Plato, and Xenophon were contemporaries, 
and probably personally acquainted, with Nehemiah 
and Ezra, and it is most probable that such minds 
would be taken with the sublime ideas of the Deity 
held by those inspired men. The existence of elec- 
tricity was known to the ancients, but it remained for 
Eranklin to show that the thunder that rocks the 
sky and makes the mountains quake is the same 
thing. 

Second. In the Scriptures only we have a rational 
account of the Creation. 

The most common belief found among pagan 



14 



SERMONS. 



philosophers was, that matter is eternal, and that the 
phenomena of nature are nothing but fate against 
God. Aristotle believed that the earth existed in 
organized form, but God put it in motion. Anaxa- 
goras, followed by Socrates and Plato, believed that 
the Supreme Mind organized eternal matter, jet held 
an animating principle in nature. Epicurus believed 
that nature was the fortuitous concurrence of atoms. 
None acknowledge the creation of matter; and most 
of them believe in that noted saving of the old Ro- 
man: "Ex nihilo nihil fit— out of nothing nothing 
comes;" thus leaving out entirely the idea of cre- 
ation. But, perhaps, some may say, This, too, is a 
very mysterious subject, and can the Scriptures give 
us any thing better ? Hear the first sentence of the 
heavenly arcana: " In the beginning God created the 
heaven and the earth." There they are, bearing the 
marks of design, proving a designer, argumentum ad 
judicium again. 

Third. The only rational account of ourselves is 
found in the Scriptures. 

But first let us inquire what the best of ancient 
writers say of man's origin and nature. Perhaps the 
greatest number hold that man was a development, 
and his soul a subtle fluid, a property of matter. 

Many held that he was a part of God; many 
taught that man had no soul ; others that he had 
two. souls — one good, the other bad, and so on, as 
their various fancies led them. 

But we know it will be said that this, too, is a 



THE SCRIPTURES. 



15 



very mysterious subject, and can the Scriptures give 
us any better account ? Hear : "And God said let 
us make man." There he is. Does he look like 
an accidental turn-up, or a blind development, or a 
chance production from aimless fortuity? Does he 
not show most wonderful design, body and mind? 
Is he not full of wonder, and far removed from any 
of the causes mentioned by the poor, blind heathen ? 
So evidently is he the workmanship of God that the 
Bible offers no argument : like the existence of the 
heavens and the earth, it is enough to say, God cre- 
ated them, without argument to prove what is already 
stronger than any process of reasoning could make 
out. To believe the contrary would be to believe 
that nothing could produce something, or that a thing 
could produce itself before it had any existence. 

Closely connected with this subject is also the 
moral condition of man. But for the Scriptures we 
would be in hopeless ignorance of our moral state. 
We admit that some of the old writers did see man's 
fallen state, but they knew nothing of the cause or 
real nature of the case. One single text will give us 
more light on this subject than all the books ever 
written by the pagan world : " Sin entered into the 
world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon 
all men.' 5 

This agrees with history and observation, and 
looks true. And what is still more interesting to us 
is, that the Bible only can give us a good hope of an 
escape from our terrible fall. Many have been the 



16 



SERMONS. 



dreams of elysian heavens and rendezvous of the 
favored of the gods, but how puerile, how humanly 
contrived all these descriptions — too trifling and worn- 
out to mention ! But read the holy oracles of God ; 
how convincing, how unlike every thing else. The 
very terms are grand and overwhelming in their 
original force — immortality, eternal life, kingdom of 
heaven, and such terms, that come with authority. 

Fourth. Let us consider some objections to the 
Bible. 

It will be said that Christians differ in their opin- 
ions of the Bible. The Church is not agreed as to 
the meaning of it. We answer, that to agree would 
require more intellect and understanding than finite 
mortals possess. Great men differ far more about 
nature, which does not disprove its origin or wisdom 
of design. It only proves that men are limited in 
their knowledge. 

But you will say, the different denominations differ 
as to the cardinal doctrines. Not so, it is the minor 
points chiefly that they can not see alike. Let us 
mention the very points. I know some would expect 
us to mention baptism first. I deny the charge ; 
Christians do not differ about baptism itself — it is 
only the mode and the age of the subject. And in- 
deed most of the controversy on doctrines has been 
about forms and names, rather than the great doc- 
trines. Let us name them: Depravity, Atonement, 
Justification by Faith, Christ the only Savior, Wit- 
ness of the Spirit, Kesurrection of the Dead, and 



THE SCRIPTURES. 



17 



Future General Judgment. This includes nearly all, 
and entirely all that is essential to salvation. We 
make this confession, however, that some ministers 
have been very unwise in showing how much we dif- 
fer, when it would have been much better and easier 
to show wherein we agree. 

But some object because they think the book con- 
tradicts itself. Verbally it does, and so does almost 
any large book. Words are only artificial signs of our 
ideas. But a close and honest examination of those 
passages that seem to contradict other passages will 
remove the difficulty in almost any case. But if we 
should find a hard place, are we infallible judges? 
Would we condemn nature because we find something 
we can't understand or unravel, or that seems to us 
might and ought to have been otherwise? But we 
will take up a few instances, just as samples of what 
has been presented. Paine said that Luke contra- 
dicted Matthew about the death of Herod: that 
Matthew spoke of Herod's death when Christ was a 
child : but that Luke spoke of Herod being alive 
when Christ was about thirty years of age. Now 
our Sabbath- school children can see through this. 
The first was Herod the Great, who did die, as both 
sacred and profane history shows. The second Avas 
Herod Antipas, who was alive, as Luke alludes to. 
The same infidel writer also tries to make much of 
a contradiction between the Book of Acts and the 
Book of Luke, both written by Luke. He says, in 
the Book of Luke, Christ is said to ascend from 



18 



SERMONS. 



Bethany, while, in the Book of Acts, he is made to 
ascend from Mount Olivet. Now the difficulty is 
only in the ignorance of the writer. A glance at the 
geography would have saved him this blunder, for 
Bethany is a village on Olivet. The ignorance of the 
writer is evident. As if I should say that I preached 
a sermon in Washington at a given time, and then 
afterward say to some other persons that I preached 
in the District of Columbia at the very same time. 
Now, if they should compare my statements, and 
publish the contradiction, it would only show that 
they did not know that Washington City is in the 
District of Columbia. Many other instances might 
be given, but they may be generally understood by a 
little careful investigation, especially by an increase 
of knowledge on such subjects. 

Perhaps most of the difficulty in understanding 
the Scriptures arises from want of knowledge, a 
knowledge of the history of those times. The very 
same difficulty arises in the interpretation of any 
very ancient history. Suppose we take the history 
of things twelve hundred years before Christ, in the 
days of Theseus, when certain articles were worth two 
oxen, other articles were worth five oxen. Now, 
very naturally, you would think of an ox, such as 
we have in our time, with four feet. But after in- 
forming ourselves, we find the word to mean a piece 
of coin with the figure of an ox on it. But what if 
in a book written many hundreds of years ago, when 
language was not copious, nor were things named as 



THE SCRIPTURES. 



19 



they are now, and characters to denote numbers and 
dates were various, and all written in languages that 
are now dead. What if we should find a few things 
that seem contradictory, and we can not explain ? It 
would be wonderful if we did not. And do we find 
no puzzles in nature ? no difficulties in explaining 
the laws of nature that are all about us ? Surely God 
is under no obligations to us that he should tell us 
the cause of the precession of the equinoxes, or the 
variation of the magnetic needle ! But it may be 
said that the Bible is a revelation and nature is not. 
But we affirm they were both made for man, and both 
are revelations of his power and wisdom. 

Another objection to the Bible has been that 
more strife and war has been caused by it than any 
thing else. We answer that the Bible has sometimes 
been the occasion for war, but never the cause of it. 
Even men entirely without the religion of the Bible 
have, in the name of religion, made war. War has 
been waged about land when the land was in no w T ay 
to blame. Perhaps the most noted instance of what 
has been called a religious war was what is called 
the Crusades, instigated and carried on by Peter the 
Hermit and Godfrey, of Bouillon, in the eleventh 
century. But who was Peter Gautier ? History in- 
forms us that he did not possess a Bible at all. He 
was a wild superstitious ignorant rover that was 
only nominally Christian. And what if three hun- 
dred thousand ignorant animals did pin a red cross 
on their right shoulder with the motto Volonte de 



20 



SERMONS. 



Dieu and march to Palestine with Pope Urban's 
blessing and authority? Of all the wars that have 
been waged in any way involving religious matters, 
the Bible is in no way the cause. It is emphatically 
a book of peace and good will to men. Its princi- 
ples are the very opposite of war. It 

"Bows the warrior's crested head, 
And tames his heart of fire." 

Another objection is the style in which the Bible 
is written. However this may be, we notice that 
the ceremonies of the largest secret orders and clubs 
in the world are largely borrowed from the Old 
Book. We allude to the copious copying of its 
finest passages by the Freemasons, Odd-fellows, and 
others. And some of the most noted pieces of com- 
position that have adorned the play and the stage 
are taken from the Old Book, and that without 
credit. Who is Macbeth, though a Scottish chief, 
but Ahab? Who is Lady Macbeth but Jezebel? 
What is the terrible apostrophe of Byron to Borne, 
as the " Niobe of nations," but the lamentations of 
Jeremiah? And what is the plaintive elegy on Na- 
poleon's overthrow, but a close imitation of the 
episode of Isaiah on the fall of Sennacherib? And 
what is the "Car of Camilla," but the shadow of 
Ezekiel's wheels ? 

The best judges of composition have many a 
time decided that there are passages in the Scrip- 
tures that have no equal in the world ; but for 
lengthening our discourse we would take pleasure in 



THE SCRIPTURES. 



21 



presenting some of them. And not only so, but no 
book has at all the variety of great subjects — sub- 
jects not merely alluded to, but treated as no other 
books treat a subject. 

Another objection is, that the Scriptures are too 
mysterious to be believed or understood. Surely 
the difficulty must be in ourselves, for the Word of 
God is so plain that a wayfaring man can or may 
understand, and millions have so understood as to 
have their whole lives and habits changed from vice 
to virtue. But we admit there are some difficult 
places, as might be supposed when we consider that 
the Author knows all things and we know so nearly 
nothing. "We venture to say that the greatest 
scholar does not know every thing that is in the 
child's primer. 

And of the Book of Nature we only know a 
little on the surface, and though this surface knowl- 
edge is called learning, it is not the hundredth or 
thousandth part of what is yet to be known. 

Mathematicians tell us they use signs and num- 
bers when they themselves do not always know their 
true relation to the question. 

Newton himself said he sometimes used the 
signs of minus and plus when he did not know pre- 
cisely their relation to the calculation, and so also 
of imaginary quantities ; yet the process could be 
proved true. 

If we must understand every thing or believe 
nothing, we are unfit to investigate any thing. We 



22 



SERMONS. 



are free to admit that questions can be raised con- 
cerning revelation that Ave can not answer, but no 
more so than about nature. As the old proverb says, 
"Any fool can ask a question that a wise man can 
not answer." But we are not to throw away the 
things we do know because we find things we do n't 
know. 

Another objection is, that if the Scriptures are in- 
spired, why should not more of the human race em- 
brace and live by them? This puts the Book on trial 
before the fallen human race, and judges its truth 
by what the race will choose. Now let us see if 
their claim is worthy of confidence in other matters. 
Have the nations generally chosen virtue rather than 
vice ? have they preferred peace to war, purity to 
vileness? have they .been more ready to do good 
than evil? A glance at the history of the world 
will show that their choice is chiefly on the side of 
wrong. 

Now then, if tried by their choice in one case, 
why not by the other ? Indeed, it will be easy to 
show that their choice is not only evil, but that in 
the human heart there is a positive repugnance to 
truth and virtue ; and almost every new and good 
discovery that has been made, has not only been re- 
jected, but persecuted. Let us mention only a few. 

Printing was the greatest discovery ever made 
in the arts, and yet its discoverer was persecuted 
and accused of being in league with the devil. Vac- 
cination was altogether the greatest discovery ever 



THE SCRIPTURES. 



2S 



made in medicine, yet the noble Dr. Jenner had his 
life made bitter by the stubborn and stupid opposi- 
tion of the people. Even the first umbrella that 
made its appearance in London met with a shower 
of stones (1770). 

And so we might enumerate many of the best 
things that have appeared, and how generally they 
have met persecution. 

And this very same disposition exists yet with 
any people that have not been enlightened and civ- 
ilized by Christianity. Should any great discovery 
be presented to China or India, such as a railroad, 
immediately it would be opposed. There is not a 
railroad or telegraph (A. D. 1875) in all China. 
Self-evident as it may be, the human mind has an 
aversion for such things ; and what is remarkable, 
more aversion to good than evil. It is more than 
four hundred years since the discovery of printing, 
the most useful of all the arts, but printed books 
are not yet used throughout the habitable globe. 
But in fifty years after the discovery of tobacco, it 
was used by the people in every part of the world. 
But notwithstanding this opposition the truth has 
survived, and millions have believed and been saved; 
and it never did spread faster than at the present time. 
Old pagan superstitions are fast wasting away before 
the advancing march of revelation, while countless 
blessings linger in its train. 

But we readily admit that we can not answer all 
the objections that may be raised; neither could 



24 



SERMONS. 



Robert Fulton answer all the objections to his steam- 
boat, but it was a success. 

Fifth. What has the Bible done? 

Is there any marked difference where it is and 
where it is not? Not that there is yet any place 
where the Scriptures are entirely obeyed by all 
the people; but where the Book has had the widest 
circulation, what a contrast with those places where 
it is not known. It is the foster-mother of 
schools and colleges, of arts and science, safety 
and civilization. 

I know it will be said that some learned scientists 
are unbelievers. Yes, and they are like the lions and 
tigers of the South, who shun the very sun that warms 
and clothes the earth with plenty, and without which 
they could not have a comfortable existence. But to 
speak without a figure : but for Christian civilization, 
these very infidel scientists would never have known 
their A. B. C's. There would not be learning and 
mental culture enough to furnish one writer in a 
million of inhabitants, and then not mind enough to 
be regarded by any civilized country. 

It is strange that those men can not see this. A 
Christian country and schools trained them up to be 
able to write a book, and now they turn against the 
very benefactor that took their fathers from ignorance 
and almost brutal degradation. 

If any one doubts this position let him answer 
this question : How many authors of natural religion 
have ever been known or heard of outside of Chris- 



THE SCRIPTURES. 



25 



tian nations ? As well might you look for orange 
orchards in the arctics. 

Much has been said about the originality of some 
of these men; but we doubt it. Instead of original, 
bold thinkers, they are mere parasites and plagiarists. 
A careful examination will show that their theories 
are twisted up of the old dry straw thrashed over 
and thrown away by former ages. 

The Bible has been the great idol destroyer, and 
wherever it is embraced men have a high and clear 
idea of the living God. It is the great slavery de- 
stroyer, and has unbound almost all the slaves of the 
earth. And what is next to slavery, Oriental caste, 
binding millions in horrid cruelty, is fast giving way 
to the revealed word of God, which teaches that God 
is no respecter of persons. It is setting the human 
race in families, making dear the name of father, 
mother, sister, brother, and wife. It stands opposed 
to polygamy; and where it prevails that disgusting 
practice can not live. It is the great corner-stone of 
schools and colleges, from which proceeds high and 
strong civilization. We know that the pagan nations 
have schools, but really they are nothing more than 
narrow systems of mnemonics. They have nothing 
worthy of the name of learning or science. The 
Bible, wherever it goes, makes woman free, and sets 
her by her husband, an intelligent, rational helpmate. 
Where its doctrines are not known she is always a 
slave, and her weakness of body makes her slavery ter- 
rible. And when woman is an ignorant slave, what 

3 



26 



SERMONS. 



are the children, and what is the husband? Where 
the house is a prison, what is the moral atmosphere ? 

The gloomy history of cruel man, without revela- 
tion, is a standing argument for the necessity, of light 
and knowledge ; and the bright history of evangeliza- 
tion is a standing question of man's elevation. Where 
there is no Bible they sell one another, and eat one 
another. Poverty and cruelty, in a multitude of 
forms, prevail in all the sore-eyed pagan lands of the 
earth. If these things can be found in Christian 
countries, to some extent, it is because Christianity 
has not yet entirely prevailed. 

As the rising sun dispels the shades of night, and 
sends the wild beasts to their dens to hide, so the 
advancing light of the Gospel breaks the bonds of 
ignorance, and sends the old superstitions and cruel- 
ties of ages to hide themselves. Except that of the 
Bible, there is not a religion or philosophy on earth, 
nor has there ever been, that will raise this lost 
world one inch in a thousand years; nor do they 
any thing for the world in a temporal way. How 
long would it take for the pagan mind to develop 
enough to make one mile of turnpike, to say nothing 
of laying a telegraph cable from China to Japan? 
The answer would be never. This standing, living, 
lasting, unanswerable argument of human progress 
where the Bible is, and human degradation where it 
is not, can never be met by its opposers any more 
than that the heat of the sun makes the tropics 
shine, and the absence of it, the arctics freeze. 



THE SCRIPTURES. 



27 



Look at those old nations sitting in darkness; 
two-thirds of them living in mud-houses, sleeping 
with their dogs, and scarcely their superiors in morals 
or cleanliness. Voices and tongues, through all the 
history of Bible lands, speak its praise ; and though 
opposed, persecuted, banished and burned, proscribed, 
written against, and ridiculed by all the contending 
parties, yet right on through all opposition, steady as 
the lapse of time, it increases and spreads out into 
nearly all the languages of the earth, while other 
books run their little round, and die out forever; but 
few of them ever getting out of the swaddling bands of 
their own vernacular. This great Book of God is 
confined to no time, country, language, people, lati- 
tude, or longitude. It is for all time, without im- 
provement or addition, till the sun is done shining 
and the earth stops in its course, till all people 
rejoice in the glad tidings. 

"This lamp from off the eternal throne 
Mercy took down, and in the night of time 
Stood casting on the dark her gracious bow; 
And evei-more with tears beseeching men 
To read, believe, and live.'" 

If one copy of all the books and treatises written 
against the Bible were collected, they would make 
more than one solid cord of printed matter, and, in 
bulk, would be one thousand times as great as the 
Bible ; but like the falling leaves, that make a few 
turns in the air before they fall into the river below, 
they float away and sink out of sight forever. But 



28 



SERMONS. 



the eternal truth of God endures like some great 
granite mountain, that never speaks to the whirlwind 
or storm ; great in silence, and standing sublime, to 
mock the rage of elements or change of times. 

Ye venerable Scriptures, the senior of all books, I 
see you coming down the ages, most hated, most 
loved, most printed, most prized; you began your 
march when time itself was young, and like your 
author, without variableness or shadow of turning, 
right on amid falling empires and dying kings. I see 
you crossing the old Roman Empire, which was three 
hundred years in dying, but ye still live. I see you 
crossing revolutions and changes which destroyed 
other books, and the greatest temples and works of 
man. Clear through the dark ages ye came without 
trace or stain of heathen bias on your brow. I see 
you give luster to the morning star of the Reforma- 
tion, sending light to Reuchlin's pen, and putting 
thunder in the voice of Luther. I see you, in all 
ages, with your hundred lighted lamps of original doc- 
trine revealing the deformities of idols, till before 
you they are broken and banished. And poor, chat- 
telized woman, crushed for ages, I see you take her 
up, tear away her veil of caste, and set her rejoicing 
by her husband. And after this I see uncounted and 
untold benefits to the little children, to the sick, the 
aged, and the unfortunate ; providing asylums for the 
poor and provisions for the needy. I see you mak- 
ing friends of the best intellects, and adorning a great 
host with your virtues, as witnesses in all the earth 



THE SCRIPTURES. 



29 



to thy mighty transforming power. I see you en- 
throning your great author in the heart, and stirring 
up love, that mighty sovereign of all the passions, 
and revealing a kingdom that can not be shaken, that 
has no end. Old Bible, let me go where thou goest, 
and stay where thou stayest; and never let my sad 
fate consign me to a place where thou canst never 
come. And now, having known something of thy 
wonderful teachings, I would see whither thou lead- 
est, the mansions thou dost promise, the crown of 
life which thou dost offer. 



30 



SERMONS. 



II. 

WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 

" What think ye of Christ?" Matt, xxii, 42. 

It will not be disputed that about eighteen hun- 
dred years ago, when Augustus Caesar was Em- 
peror of Rome and Herod was Governor of Judea, a 
remarkable person appeared, whose whole life and 
teachings were altogether different from, and often 
the reverse of, other great philosophers and leaders 
of schools. We say it will not be disputed, for 
his name and history are easily traced through all 
the times down to the present day— traced not only 
in friendly but unfriendly history. Even profane 
history establishes the existence and history of 
Christ as certainly as that of Caesar, Plutarch, Mark 
Antony, Pliny, or Cicero. 

Of his personal appearance it is noteworthy that, 
though the New Testament writers describe him so 
fully, as to birth, life, doctrines, sayings, doings, 
travels, and death, not one word is given to gratify 
our curiosity as to his stature, complexion, or coun- 
tenance : nothing from which the painter, sculptor, 
or relic-hunter can get a single hint. And we feel 
very sure, from his doctrines and examples, that he 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 



31 



never designed the world to know this. No good 
could come of it. Indeed Paul says expressly: 
" We are to know him no more after the flesh." (2 
Cor. v, 16.) He told those that were referring to 
his kindred after the flesh, that his brother was " he 
that doeth the will of my Father in heaven." There 
are innumerable pictures of Him, all claiming to be 
true; but they differ from each other, and must all 
differ from the real person. One of the most noted 
is that of the Romish Church, which was made from 
a description of Christ by Lentulus, said to be writ- 
ten to the Roman Senate ; he claiming to be a Ro- 
man of Palestine. This picture has been imposed 
upon thousands of credulous Catholics, and even 
some Protestants. Learned men, that have examined 
the subject, say that it bears the marks of deception 
in several points, and, instead of the account being 
written in the first century, must have been written 
in the fourteenth. Its spurious 'origin is evident from 
the idiom of the language, as well as the contradic- 
tions in it. And even if Lentulus had written a 
true description of Christ, no artist could make a true 
likeness from a written description. We often see 
pictures of our Lord in Bibles, with a nimbus round 
his head, and with a grave, and, somefmies, corpse- 
like countenance, all of which is false and in bad 
taste, and should never be encouraged. No sculptor 
or painter should ever attempt a picture or likeness 
of him who was " made flesh and dwelt among us," 
but was to be " Mown no more after the flesh." And 



32 



SERMONS. 



if for no other reason, it is enough that no true 
likeness can be obtained, so that all the pictures are 
mere fancy. 

Christ's body is not an object of worship. What- 
ever interest we may have in his holy body, as did 
Joseph, who honored it with his new tomb, yet he 
that would worship him "must worship in spirit." 
His body can not be every-where at the same time, 
and could not be an object of worship; but his spirit 
is every-where, and is the true object of worship. 
The world has often mistaken the nature of Christ's 
mission to earth. He did not come as a hero, or 
commander of armies, or a mere temporal ruler, or 
teacher. He was not a Hercules, or a Theseus, per- 
forming mighty muscular deeds. Whoever loses sight 
of his true mission will be sure to temporalize his 
religion, and miss the mark entirely. He came to 
"seek and to save that ivhich was Zos£." Temporal 
blessings, many and great, did attend his ministry; 
but only as the little benefits to servants in the palace 
of a great king. 

The one great and all-important object was sal- 
vation from sin. This great central idea was contin- 
ually kept before the people. And the whole history 
of his wonderful life is a rebuke to human pride and 
vanity. He always teaches the pure unearthly doc- 
trine of humility and purity. When they would make 
him a king, he disappears from the company. He 
says: "My kingdom is not of this world." He 
" made himself of no reputation." Every thing in his 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 



83 



life differed from all other systems of religion. His 
very dress was and is a standing rebuke to the van- 
ity of personal adornment, and making a show in the 
flesh, and u admiring men's persons." 

Of course his life was a standing mystery to the 
haughty Jews, who were expecting the Messiah to 
come in the clouds with chariots and the pomp of 
earthly power, destroying the Romans, and all their 
other enemies, and setting up a magnificent earthly 
kingdom, giving them high seats of power and profit 
in his kingdom. His power they could not dispute ; 
but the nature of it their earthly stupid minds could 
not comprehend. Hence, they said to him, " Come 
down from the cross/' showing their ignorance of 
Christ's mission. 

Power without limit he had, and wealth without 
count ; but the great work he was to do was to put 
forth a power which was unto salvation to them that 
believe. This being accomplished the world will be 
rich enough. Poverty and crime will flee his ap- 
proaching truth, as did the devils in Judea when he 
rebuked and sent them back to hell. 

Christ was either a divine person, having all 
power and wisdom, or he was the greatest of all im- 
postors. He could not be a good being, and profess 
what he did not possess ; especially to be the Messiah, 
and lord of heaven and earth, by whom the worlds 
were made. As to belief there is no middle ground ; 
there is no modification of claim. To say he was a 
good man, and then deny his divinity, is absurd. It 



34 



SERMONS. 



would be much more consistent to reject him 
altogether. 

Many persons are puzzled in their minds on the 
fact that the whole world do not believe in Christ at 
once, and become converted. Say they, if he be a di- 
vine teacher, why are his doctrines so slow in spread- 
ing over the earth ? Let us examine the question. 
Do mankind readily discover truth, and do they read- 
ily believe it when discovered for them ? What has 
been the history of man's slowness or quickness to 
receive new and useful discoveries? We answer that 
nothing is more characteristic of man than the stub- 
bornness with which he holds on to his old errors, 
and the slowness with which he receives new and use- 
ful discoveries. Let us see his disposition to discover 
truth in nature. It will not be disputed that this 
earth went round the sun many thousand years be- 
fore any one knew it ; and when it was made known 
by Pythagoras, it was rejected by the whole world; 
till two thousand years elapsed, then Copernicus pro- 
claimed the fact again, which brought a storm of per- 
secution upon him, and which left the subject in the 
dark for one hundred and forty years more, before it 
was generally believed. And though the earth at- 
tracts the body of every man to itself, the law of 
gravitation was never understood till the sixteenth 
century of the Christian era. And even when pub- 
lished and explained by Newton, it met, as did all 
other important truth, a fierce opposition. 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 



35 



We might call attention to most of the useful 
discoveries that have ever been made, from the 
days of Pythagoras to the pulling down of Ark- 
wright's woolen-mill and the mobbing of poor Kay 
for inventing a fly-shuttle, and innumerable instances 
of the stubbornness of the human mind to receive 
good; so that we need not be surprised if, when the 
Lord of life appeared, this same dark-mindedness of 
fallen men met and rejected him. Human nature is 
the same in every age. and though Christian civiliza- 
tion has greatly cleared away the darkness of past 
ages, still the same natural principles remain. 

Not only do w T e see this opposition to the good 
and useful, but w T e also see the want of accuracy and 
truth in what is received and what is doggedly estab- 
lished for ages ; for men hold on to error as persist- 
ently as they reject new truth. The heathen world at 
this day have almost every thing wrong, and hold on to 
their old superstitions with a tenacity that shows what 
human nature is, and what may still be expected of it. 

We have mentioned these things to show that if 
Christ has been rejected by large numbers of the 
race, it is not evidence that he is not true. 

After all these adverse principles he has been 
received by millions, and there has not been a year 
that his doctrines have not spread, or his name been 
proclaimed where it was not known before ; and this 
by some of the best minds in the human race, and cer- 
tainly w T ith the best results to mankind of any religion 
or philosophy ever promulgated since the world was. 



30 



SERMONS. 



But Christ is not upon trial for authenticity be 
fore this fallen world, numbers being the rule. The 
question is on the benefits, results, and practical work- 
ing. The trial is between a real Christian and a real 
pagan: and between the state of a soul before he 
embraces Christ as his Savior, and the same man 
afterward. Witnesses, without number, testify to 
the wonderful change, the inestimable gift, the all-sat- 
isfying change. The trial is not between a Christian 
and a Christian moralist, who has his birth and educa- 
tion, and very existence, all surrounded and steeped 
in Christian ethics ; whose very thoughts and con- 
sciousness is all Christian without knowing it. We 
say Christian : but we mean as to his morality and 
citizenship. Such a man may indeed be without a 
true Christian change of nature; and yet, from the 
effect of circumstances, may live a more correct 
outer life than some professed Christians. 

A belief in Christ is not founded on a few things 
found in an old book, or because our fathers believed 
in him. But the materials for evidence are many 
and various. Evidence comes from many sources, 
and if properly examined, becomes irresistible. 

If we had no other evidence of Caesar than that 
written by Plutarch, we might doubt; but mention is 
made of Caesar by all the histories of those times, by 
enemies and friends. So with Christ: the world is 
full of his history ; enemies as well as friends refer to 
him ; numerous historians refer to his peculiarities. 
Monuments, arches, coins, temples, tablets, and books, 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 



37 



are full of him. And then we have his peculiar 
teachings, and are capable of examining their quality 
and testing their use. We have the historic and the 
internal knowledge of Christ : we have often tested 
the truth of his doctrines, and, as we say of certain 
questions in arithmetic, they will "prove." 

But let it be remembered that evidence may be 
accepted, examined, tested, or rejected, as we choose. 
The heavens were just as plainly marked from the 
first as when Pythagoras and Copernicus took their 
positions for the true philosophy ; but men did not be- 
lieve, because they did not use the powers God gave 
to investigate. And then there is a particular reason 
why Christ is rejected. He reproves sin, and teaches 
self-denial: so that to believe and embrace his doc- 
trine is more than simply to believe in an abstract 
truth, such as the Copernican system of astronomy. 
This is why it is said: "With the heart man believeth 
unto righteousness." It is also said that "if any 
man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine 
whether it be of God." A belief in Christ will no 
more be forced on the mind than a belief in astronomy. 
Our faculties must be used, and our evils must be laid 
aside. 

Believing the truth has a very intimate connection 
with doing the truth. The reason some minds are 
troubled about knowing the will of God is, they are 
not determined to do it. If the fifty sons of the proph- 
ets had gone over Jordan with Elijah, they, too, as 
well as Elisha, might have had the grand sight of the 



38 



SERMONS. 



fiery chariot and horses that carried Elijah up to 
heaven. If Mary had gone away from the sepulcher 
as the disciples did, she would have missed the privi- 
lege and honor of first seeing and talking with the 
Lord when he arose from the dead. 

What think ye of Christ f is a great question, for 
"as a man thinketh, so is he." There is a wide dif- 
ference in what and how Christians think of Christ. A 
nominal Christian may have a tolerable idea of him : 
not questioning his doctrines or power, and, in a low 
sense, be a worshiper, but have no heart experience or 
joyful acquaintance with him. But a real Christian 
with no better historic knowledge, but by prayer and 
faith, obtains incalculably more knowledge. This 
is what the apostle calls the "excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ." This is the greatest of all 
knowledges, the highest of all associations, and is an 
indescribable advantage in getting through life, far 
above the friendships of men or angels. This in- 
timacy and knowledge of riches and power no one 
will believe till he gets the experience. The full en- 
joyment of this accounts for Paul's wonderful life and 
labors, and his abounding liberty in the midst of per- 
secutions. 

But though the gifts were peculiar to him, the 
riches and love are for us, as we may learn from the 
great number of promises such as this : " That the 
eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye 
may know what is the hope of his calling, and what 
the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints ; 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 



39 



and what is the exceeding greatness of his power 
to us-ward who believe, according to his mighty 
power." (Eph. i, 18, 19.) There are a great many 
other such strong texts, entirely above the apprecia- 
tion of the nominal Christian. He reads them over 
as one walks over a gold mine, without discovering 
the wealth. 

Not that this wonderful knowledge is of any pri- 
vate interpretation or occult mystery held back from 
the membership of the Church, and only discoverable 
by a few favored ones; but, on the contrary, nothing 
is more free to all, nor is the condition hard or heavy. 
The only reason why all believers do not enter fully 
into this glorious liberty of the children of God is, 
they will not believe. Surely, the Word of God 
abounds with the doctrine, negatively, positively, figu- 
ratively, literally and experimentally, commanded 
and promised. It is found in Gospels, Acts, Epistles, 
and Apocalypse, set forth in every possible way with 
bold, strong language, such as no uninspired pen 
could write. Who will- now be introduced to the King 
in his beauty ? 

" Jesus, the vision of thy face 
Hath overpowering charms, 
Scarce would I feel death's cold embrace, 
If Christ be in my arms." 



40 



SERMONS. 



III. 

MIRACLES. 

"Many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which 
he did." — John ii, 23. 

A miracle is an event out of the common order 
of nature or Providence, differing from common 
events as observed by experience, and produced for 
the establishment of some new doctrine or authority 
of some person, and must be produced by supernat- 
ural power. All intelligent minds will admit that 
every thing in the universe is under law. What is 
called nature is only a uniform procedure of law, and 
that instituted by the Supreme mind. 

ISTow the question is, not whether God can do any 
thing different from what we have yet seen, but has 
he so done? If it be asserted abstractly, and without 
knowledge of concomitant circumstances, that a mira- 
cle has been wrought, the probabilities are against it. 
So of many things in nature, when first known, and 
wonderful in themselves. 

Evidence of Scripture miracles does not rest on a 
few things, but many, and not at all on what infidels 
seem to think. Hence the misapprehension of most 
writers who try to disprove or ridicule. For instance, 



MIRACLES. 



41 



Mr. Hume's assertion stows how easily one who does 
not see the wide field of evidence may start wrong, 
and yet seem to argue fairly. He says, " A miracle 
is something contrary to experience ; and as experi- 
ence is the strongest evidence of any thing, therefore 
miracles were never wrought." But his statement is 
not well made. Miracles are not contrary to expe- 
rience, but different from experience. The question 
is not whether our experience is the first and last 
of all events, as to what may have been, but whether 
the Creator, who is the author of all that is wonderful 
in nature, can himself depart from or add something 
more, or vary what he has made; and all this for the 
purpose of establishing doctrines and settling truths 
far more important than all the fixed laws of inert 
matter. Established laws, as they have been called, 
and to which the skeptic continually points, are not 
nearly so well settled, after all, as he imagines. This 
is certainly true of what we call our knowledge 
of them. 

YTe will take a few instances. Until recently 
oxygen had been considered one or the most clearly 
defined and well-established of simple bodies; all its 
fixed affinities and definite proportions seemed to de- 
termine this with a clearness and varied evidence that 
scarcely any other substance had. But all at once 
ozone was discovered, which, for one whole year, puz- 
zled all the chemists. It was oxygen, and yet it was 
not quite of the same properties. At last the irrec- 
oncilable puzzle was laid aside by supposing electric 

4 



42 



SERMONS. 



disturbance among the particles called polarization. 
This settles the question, if the theory is true ; if not 
true, we have nothing better, and must wait. 

Before 1869, if any one had said or written that 
water is found to be magnetic, all the scholars in 
the world would have said, in the language of Hume, 
"contrary to experience." In no book, from the days 
of the alchemists down to the founding of the Smith- 
sonian Institute, has any thing of the kind ever been 
known. Such was our remark when it was first said 
the waters of St. Louis Spring, in Michigan, are mag- 
netic. But when we saw a man, of well-known ve- 
racity, dangling a key from the point of his pen-knife, 
and asserting that he was eye-witness to the im- 
mersion of the knife and this result, we changed our 
mind, and said, This is not now contrary to experi- 
ence, but it differs from experience, and becomes new 
experience. 

Suppose some one who first discovered the skele- 
ton of the monster megatherium, in the plains of 
India, had made a statement of the fact, an infidel 
might have said: "Whether is it most credible for 
such a monster to have lived, or for some one or more 
men to lie ?" But, after all, there is the veritable 
skeleton in the British museum. 

Mr. Meehan, of Philadelphia, was charged with 
saying that European strawberries would never do 
well in America. He replied in his journal that he 
had said no such thing— that he never predicted any 
course for nature, nor found it safe to say what 



MIRACLES. 



43 



might be ; that we had too much predicting ; but that 
what he had said was, they never had done well yet. 
We well remember how incredulous the people were at 
the first statements that certain trees had been dis- 
covered in California that are more than three times 
the size and height of common trees ; and some rid- 
iculed, and it was doubtless said, "this is contrary to 
experience/' But the facts are now established, so 
that the discovery was only different from experience. 

Even nature itself, with all its thousands of years 
of steadiness, is not without its anomalies, as if to 
rebuke proud man for any atheistic sentiment he 
might offer. Every anomaly in the universe is a 
standing argument for miracles ; if not for their truth- 
fulness, at least for their probability. These anoma- 
lies exist in all the known regions of the universe. 
It may not be amiss to note a few. All woody 
plants grow out of the soil in all climes of the earth, 
with one single exception, — the mistletoe (phoraden- 
dron flavescens) — which ^rows out of some tree. All 
the organs of the animal body have a manifest use 
but one — the spleen, which is a continual puzzle to 
physiologists, who have not yet discovered its use. 
All the planets and moons known to astronomers 
move from West to East, with one single exception — 
the moons of Uranus, v/hich move from East to West. 

These things, and many more like them that 
might be mentioned, should have a very humbling ef- 
fect on minds that are in haste to determine what 
the unsearchable God has done, or will do. We found 



44 



SERMONS. 



our belief of miracles on none of these things, but 
mention them to show how careful and modest the 
greatest men ought to be in the presence of such 
wonders. 

On what, then, do we found our belief of Scripture 
miracles ? We answer, on the power of God in connec- 
tion with that stupendous scheme of human redemp- 
tion, whieh is greater than nature, more wonderful 
than orbs or ecliptics, and dearer to God and more 
interesting to man than all the definite proportions 
below, and all the librations above. 

Belief in miracles belongs to a belief in the authen- 
ticity of the Scriptures, which must be settled before. 
It also goes along with the belief in the attributes of 
God, and the office of Christ and the Holy Spirit. 
These great doctrines must be studied together to be 
seen, understood, and admired. When Job came to 
see and feel the great power of God, he exclaimed: 
"God can do every tiling !" When we consider the 
ignorance of the writers, generally, who have tried 
to bring this subject into doubt, we are not surprised. 
They are very much like one examining a beautiful 
mountain or frescoed wall with a microscope instead 
of taking the whole grand design at a glance. 

But the most absurd view of this subject is taken 
by certain writers who profess to believe the Scrip- 
tures, and yet deny miracles, as such, and try to 
account for them on common or natural principles, or 
excuse them (as if the Bible needed an apology for 
its extravagant expressions), paying much tribute to 



MIRACLES. 



45 



infidelity on the one side, and yet forced to assent 
on the other. Now, whether conclusive or not in our 
answer, we have a short method with all these nom- 
inal Christians. We say their position is harder to 
maintain than either that of the infidel or the orthodox 
Christian. They face an absurdity whichever way 
they look. While they would persuade the infidel 
and teach the Christian, they disgust both. If Jesus 
Christ is not the Son of God, and did not actually 
and many times work real and stupendous miracles in 
daylight, exactly and literally as he said, and as his 
many disciples testified, and that without any exag- 
geration of language, he is the greatest impostor that 
ever lived, and his followers, in all ages, have been 
the greatest dupes. There is no ambiguity about this 
matter; the language of Scripture is not dark or 
double, like that of the Delphic oracle, when it said : 
"If Croesus cross the Halys, a great nation will be 
destroyed." Of course it would — either his own or 
his enemies'. 

The recorded miracles are not few, and they are 
not all of a kind : they are plain, simple, clear de- 
clarations of fact or falsehood, with no middle ground. 
There is no mistaking what the writers mean. There 
are no marks of intentional hiding-places. We have 
much more respect for the mental process of the 
man that would conclude the whole New Testament 
a fable, than for one that would undertake to account 
for these miracles, explaining away the supernatural. 

A question is sometimes raised why miracles do 



46 



SERMONS. 



not continue to this day. A little observation will 
show the reason to complete satisfaction. The work- 
ing of them was not intended but for a specific 
purpose, and when that was accomplished, they were 
to cease. Their object was to arouse a slumbering 
world to the truth of certain new doctrines, while 
those doctrines were new, and before there was time 
or opportunity to test them as we have time, and 
have a history of them. Hence, the beginning of both 
Old and New Testament doctrines were attended 
with miracles. This most evident necessity has al- 
ways been acknowledged; so, when Swedenborg, 
Joseph Smith, and others came out with new doc- 
trines, they were called on for miracles, which they 
tried to produce. Can it be supposed that we would 
be entitled to all the evidence we now have, having 
extensive history of the dealings of God with man, 
and also our own religious experience, and then de- 
mand that of miracles, too, giving us five times the 
light and force of evidence that the first Church had? 
We have as much evidence without as they had with 
miracles. A holy man, accustomed to sweet com- 
munion with God, would say we have more. The 
process of being born again is far more wonderful 
and thrilling than the observance of any miracle. 

Did I not know more of God's power and love 
when he raised me from my dead state, not of body, 
but of soul, than the bystanders who heard Christ's 
voice and saw Lazarus get up and walk ? I did. It 
was far more direct and personal, interesting and 



MIRACLES. 



47 



impressive, and, from its peculiar nature, must be 
more lasting. 

We conclude, therefore, that the days of miracles 
were for a particular purpose. We light candles be- 
fore the sun is up, but not afterward. We prop 
and stake up a tree till it has time to take root and 
grow. But if an older tree should say, Why not give 
me a stake? we would reply, You have had time to 
grow and gain strength for yourself. So, now, with 
the accumulated evidence of history and experience — 
we need no miracles in our day. Mark this: no re- 
generated man asks to see a miracle. If you ques- 
tion him you will find this true in every case. 

But for the commonness of the laws of nature 
all around us they are as wonderful as miracles. 
The growth of an acorn into an oak in an hour 
would be a miracle : but the natural law of growth 
would be the very same, all but the length of time. 
A thousand things in nature are as wonderful in 
themselves and show the hand of design as perfectly 
as if the order of things were changed. Now will 
any one deny that the Creator may not add to or 
change what he has made? We do not believe in 
miracles from a few, but many kinds of evidence. 
Nor do we believe the Scriptures from a few facts 
but many, and varied truths. How do we believe 
any thing that we do not see ? We answer, On tes- 
timony. But how do we credit testimony ? There • 
are various ways by which we arrive at a belief. 
None of us have seen Washington, but who doubts 



48 



SERMONS. 



his existence? We do not arrive at this belief by 
the testimony of one person, but many kinds of evi- 
dence taken together. 

We inquire the way to some place. A stranger 
tells us to go on a mile and we shall come to a 
mill; then turn to the right and go half a mile, 
and when we come to a bridge cross it and turn to 
the left, and go up the hill, and just over the hill in 
a large white house lives the man we want to see. 
Now how do we know that this stranger tells the 
truth? There is a way to find out. So we start on, 
and sure enough at the end of the first mile there 
is the mill. So much truth begins to encourage, and 
we go to the end of the half mile and there is the 
bridge, and we feel strengthened in our opinion of 
that stranger, and turn, as he said, beyond the bridge, 
and there is the hill; by this time we almost know 
the stranger was truthful ; and though we have not 
yet arrived at the white house, we are almost certain 
that one who would tell the truth so often and so ac- 
curately could be trusted for the remaining part. So 
we are far more certain now than if we had never 
carried out his directions. In like manner, when we 
examine Scripture doctrine, the general as well as 
particular truthfulness, and agreement with known 
facts, strengthen our belief till there is an accumula- 
tion of facts so varied and numerous that we have 
no doubt at all. We so often find the word agreeing 
with what we do know that we credit some things 
we could not know without pure revelation. 



MIRACLES. 



49 



Though not many of us could make the calcula- 

tion, we believed our almanacs that told us of the 

transit of Yenus December 8, 1874. Why did we 

believe? Because of the general truthfulness of our 

annual calendars, and because we had so often found 

them true on other matters. TTe see no marks of 

collusion or jugglery or necromancy. Those miracles 

were mostly performed in open daylight before many 

witnesses. They were in great numbers, and startled 

even the enemies of Christ and his apostles. But 

now we have a more excellent way, even the " love 

of God shed abroad in our hearts." 

5 



50 



SERMONS. 



IV. 

CHOICE. 

" Choose you this day whom ye will serve." — Josh, xxiv, 15. 

In all that the Scriptures say about man, he is 
treated as a free, accountable being. And one great 
and peculiar excellence of the Christian religion is, 
that it is voluntary. The army of the saints will all 
be volunteers if not all veterans. We must be free 
to be men: less or lower than that would be ape or 
something — not man. It would be well for every 
man to keep this great crowning characteristic in 
view — not to think more highly of himself than he 
ought to think, but to think himself worthy of more 
glory than the world, the flesh, and the devil can 
give. This exalted freedom makes man kindred to 
angels and other high orders of being that have been 
called gods. 

No proof of man's free accountable nature is nec- 
essary, for if any Church or creed should deny it, 
they would straightway acknowledge it before they 
had said ten words about duty or penalty. Marcus 
Aurelius believed in the necessity of evil, but contra- 
dicted it in his life and writings. God treats us as if 
accountable and free ; we treat ourselves and judge 



CHOICE. 



51 



ourselves as if we were accountable. All courts of 
justice, from the lowest magistrate's office to the high- 
est King's Bench, thus judge. Without this there 
could be no moral right or wrong, no good, no bad, no 
responsibility, no religion at all. Rewards and pun- 
ishments could not be founded in truth or justice at 
all. Crime would cease to deserve that odious name, 
and virtue would have no praise or even existence, 
God's word be a blind law, and man a machine. 

We know it will be said that man is influenced, 
and that influences are extraneous, and that they in- 
terfere with man's choice. But this is only a test or 
trial of freedom — an exercise, an experience. And 
why should this be objected to ? This is a necessity. 
Sailing on rough seas makes good mariners ; fighting 
makes good soldiers. We once knew a. young man of 
a respectable family who was tried and found guilty 
of stealing money. His only excuse was that some- 
thing impelled him to do the act; that it was contrary 
to his better judgment and conscience, but that some 
strange, mysterious influence compelled him to do it, 
and he asked mercy of the court on account of this 
impelling force. But the judge simply said : " The 
court will be impelled to sentence you to the State- 
prison for three years." 

This freedom to good or evil can not be forced; 
God will not, and the devil can not, use force. If any 
man can find grounds for complaint, it must be against 
the Creator himself. Sometimes the dark-minded 
skeptic says, Why did God make me liable to fall? 



52 



SERMONS. 



If he knew all things, why did he not create me so 
that I could not sin and be lost ? But do such men 
know" what they say ? For it amounts to this : Why 
was I made a man that can sin. instead of a brute that 
can not? Peccability and accountability are neces- 
sary integrals in our high-born nature. Who would 
have his crown of manhood taken down and be left on 
the level of beasthood, that he might be saved the 
danger of evil? This is just the difference between 
man and beast : so say our best writers on mental 
philosophy. Dr. Wayland says the only reason a 
horse or any other animal is not fully accountable, 
is for want of sufficient intellect. This is just the 
difference between Balaam and the beast he rode. 

But it is admitted that to have a rational soul is 
to have a charge and take a risk greater than the 
government of States or command of armies. This 
is an unalterable necessity, beyond our wishes or con- 
trol, that never can be undone or modified; for should 
we seek death, we would not be able to find it. Even 
the suicide only hurries his soul forward into the 
presence of the Judge a little sooner, and loads the 
dark problem with a heavier doom. Man may so 
abuse and darken his nature as to believe he is over- 
made or some way out of his sphere; but still the 
decree of self-hood will hold him to the bar of account- 
ability whether he approves or blasphemes. But to a 
right-minded man this freedom is appreciated and 
loved, even with all the possibility of danger that ad- 
heres to such a nature. What if we have to exercise 



CHOICE. 



53 



our powers to keep from falling? Who would object 
to eyes because they are to be exercised to keep us 
from stumbling? The eye may meet with accident 
Or great suffering; but who objects to eyes on this 
account? Seeing, then, this principle of choice, the 
great question comes, What shall we choose? 

Joshua puts the great question to the people, and 
at the same time tells them what he will do himself, 
without regard to their decision. Here he shows his 
decision and high independent will-power, so important 
in a good ruler. The object of this worship is the in- 
finite God of the universe, God of angels and men, 
him in whose natural and moral image we were first 
made; not a law, nor principle, nor influence, nor 
force, but a being, an intelligent, thinking, independent, 
all-wise, all-good being, that can be loved, that can be 
communicated with, that can communicate with us. 
Mere power or blind law, however old, can not be 
loved. You may look out on all the mighty works of 
nature and see all curious wisdom and power, and 
your emotions may be stirred ; but in all these unin- 
telligent works there is nothing you can worship or 
trust. You can admire, but not love ; be delighted, 
but not saved. And in all the mighty worlds above, 
and wonders below, not one thought can they think, 
nor one little ripple of emotion can they feel. There- 
fore, they are not objects of our worship or choice. 
We need a God that can notice us, and that can 
pardon our sins, and love us, and let us know that he 
loves us, so that we can love him. 



54 



SERMONS. 



Joshua calls on the people to choose tins day; 
so we call on you here, this day, to exercise your 
high privilege — a privilege that lower beings do not 
possess — and a privilege that you may so abuse as 
that it be taken away. Stand up this day and 
assert your manhood; declare your allegiance on 
the side of greatness and God, liberty, and eternal 
well-being. 

We know of no act so high and noble, and none 
that will be remembered with such pleasure, as that 
free, deliberate will-power, set in motion toward the 
shore of eternal well-being. History records great 
decisions and actions, bold projects and adventures — 
some of them having decided battles, won crowns, 
and taken possession of thrones. But when crowns 
are of no value, and thrones crumbled, and those 
bold deeds of dead kings and commanders are for- 
gotten, the bold choice of God and liberty will live 
on and kindle into eternal glory, and only brighten 
as time reaches on through the ages to come. 

Who will make this choice to-day? for time flies 
and opportunities vanish. And though all of life 
hangs on it, and vast unutterable eternity of happy 
conscious life leads out from it, yet this choice can 
be made in a moment. But will you say there are 
hinderances ? True, but not as great as you suppose. 
Where do 3^011 find a hard yoke and heavy burden ? 
Not in the Scriptures surely, but just the contrary. 
But you say, It seems hard to me to make the choice. 
What makes it seem hard? Your sins, which are 



CHOICE. 



55 



delusive, and always raise false apprehensions of 
what is to be done and suffered. Can it be possible 
that the service of the world, the flesh or the devil, 
can be easier or more pleasurable than the service of 
our Maker and Redeemer? Can leeks and onions 
compare with grapes and pomegranates? Can the 
flesh-pots of Egypt compare with the ambrosial 
manna that fell from heaven every morning ? What 
strange delusion is that which hesitates to decide in 
so plain a case as the service of the living God, com- 
pared with the service of sin and death ! 

But there is still another danger even after the 
judgment is carried and the cost is counted, and 
every thing seems to be settled. The soul says to 
itself in the most positive affirmation : Yes, yes, I 
will choose for the right ; I must positively live bet- 
ter ; I need nothing more to convince me of this 
great matter— but not to-day. This fatal delusion 
has cheated thousands out of heaven. Joshua says, 
choose you this day whom ye will serve. Not to 
choose now is not to choose at all. You might as 
well resolve to be good yesterday as to-morrow. You 
can touch neither. If you think you can, try it, and 
see how utterly foolish the attempt. Time only can 
be touched at a point, and that point is now. And 
then to postpone this great salvation is a sin ; it pre- 
fers self to God. It says, self first and God second. 
As to a more convenient season, how can that be ? 
How can additional sin, and the hardening process of 
added procrastination, make another time easier? 



56 



SERMONS. 



The moral hinge on which the soul's destiny 
swings for hell or heaven, in this case, is the will. 
The awful answer to the guilty left-hand road mul- 
titude, that silences forever any reply, and that left 
the man without a wedding garment, " speechless/' 
was, "ye would not." "How often would I 
but ye would not." Sometimes we have heard it 
said that the sinner must give up his will; but while 
that mode of expression is well meant, and may be 
explained into the right meaning, we don't like it. 
On the contrary, we 'don't believe God wants us to do 
any such thing. The will is a mighty spiritual dy- 
namic that can be used for good— only direct it 
right— only don't run it across God's will— keep it 
ranging along the straight lines of truth and revela- 
tion—then the stronger the better. God don't want 
us to give up any of our faculties, but rather sanctify 
and turn them to his service. Joshua himself showed 
the great irrepressible sanctified will that was the 
very exponent of this noble text. "As for me and 
my house we will serve the Lord;" and this will- 
power is not to be given up by what others do. This 
deciding power honors the judgeship that is in every 
man. To God it says yes; to sin and Satan, it ut- 
ters a truncated no. 

This principle of choice is rather moral than in- 
tellectual, though, in its operation, it partakes of both. 
A man may have the intellectual power and steadi- 
ness of Euclid or Apollonius, and yet be only like 
an elaborate chronometer, without pendulum, dial, or 



CHOICE. 



57 



indices. While, on the contrary, a man may not 
possess the greatest intellectual acumen, yet, if his 
mind is buttressed and bracketed with this high and 
noble character, he will not turn about with every 
whim, nor tack about with every wind. 

" The man of independent mind 
Is king o' men for a' that." 

It may be said that while this is true manhood, 
and to be admired wherever found, it costs some- 
thing; and that to carry out this principle involves 
sacrifice and suffering sometimes. Grant it ; but 
does the opposite course have no sacrifices or suffer- 
ings? Yerilv. in the Ions: run of life, far more; for 
there is no such sacrifice as self-indulgence and time- 
serving. " He that would save his life shall lose it/' 

How many Christians live in a perpetual vexation 
below a bold, free, high choice, that would carry them 
clear above the brambles and briers of sin, and a 
temporizing indecision that takes all the confidence 
out of the soul, and leaves it to grope along in un- 
availing regrets and wasting fears, and may be worn 
out by discouragement, and give up in helpless de- 
feat at last 1 Just here is the key to success, or 
entrance to defeat. What is to be done, to be a serv- 
ant of God, is not hard or unreasonable ; but, like 
the observance of nature's fixed laws, He must pos- 
itively be obeyed. The bold decided Christian has 
good fare and safe quarters, short trials and long 
victories. His choice is made and the whole matter 



58 



SERMONS. 



settled, so that there is not to be an alarm, excitement, 
and battle for every new temptation that comes along. 
The case is settled once for all, so that peace is as 
a river undammed, unturned, uninterrupted. Such a 
one can sing: 

" My life flows on in endless song 
Above earth's lamentation." 

Without this the soul is like a house owned by 
two persons: both contending for occupancy, and 
neither being able to hold it in peace; or, like those 
unfortunate men that live on the border between two 
countries that are at war, both armies demanding 
allegiance of them. What incalculable loss and 
unnamable kinds of disadvantage that Christian is 
under, whose heart is not entirely filled with the 
holy spirit of grace and power ! And we are of opin- 
ion that thousands in the Churches at this day are 
living in this low state. The Scripture name for this 
is lukewarm. And God's estimate of it is terrible. 
"I would that thou wert either cold or hot; so then, 
because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, 
I will spew thee out of my mouth. . . Thou art 
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and 
naked." (Rev. iii, 16.) 

Afraid to do right, and afraid to do wrong, sin 
makes moral cowards, and breeds false apprehensions 
of our real state; magnifies duty, and exaggerates 
crosses; puts lions in the way, and peoples the land 
of promise with unconquerable giants. A decided 



CHOICE. 



59 



faith would lean on the arm of Almighty power, and 
go forward like Joshua and Caleb, caring nothing for 
giants, but luxuriating among figs, grapes, and pome- 
granates, and singing the song of Moses and the 
Lamb, amid fleeing enemies and falling walls, till safe 
in full possession of the land flowing with milk and 
honey. 

This freedom of choice will be seen when the elect 
of God are gathered off on the right hand and stand 
up for judgment, and the great left hand throng of 
goats also stand forth to hear their doom. When the 
question is asked before heaven's great assize, Why 
this awful separation, this immeasurable difference be- 
tween the right hand sheep and left hand goats ? the 
stern self-evident answer will be to the one, u Ye 
would," and to the other, " Ye would not." Bold 
Joshua needs no pyramid or pillar to keep his hon- 
ored name green, for this noble choice settled on his 
memory a title to the righteousness, which shall be 
had in everlasting remembrance. 



60 



SERMONS. 



V. 

FAITH. 

" Hare faith in God."— Mark xi, 22. 

First. The deciding and determining power of 
faith. 

The human race went out from God by unbelief, 
and must get back by faith. The first great separat- 
ing inlet of sin was by doubting and neglecting God's 
Word, and in consequence believing the devil's words. 

A man's belief governs him : "As a man thinketh 
[believeth], so is he." The belief or unbelief of some 
things is indifferent, but there are some great leading 
roads of truth, and also of error, that determine the 
soul's outcome with no chance to retrace or return. 
And these great lines of belief and action are as cer- 
tain to lead on to good or bad results to the soul, as 
certain investments in business lead to defeat or for- 
tune in this world. An unbeliever says, I must have 
proof before I believe the Gospel. Had Columbus re- 
quired proof of the existence of a western continent, 
he never would have set sail for it. We say proof, 
not evidence, for he had some evidence — enough to 
begin with, and the proof he obtained after he carried 
out his belief. 



FAITH. 



61 



God does not force men to believe or obey, but 
gives them evidence enough to act, and prove his 
Word, but so as to leave the free powers entirely at 
liberty. After all that may be said of Christian faith, 
it depends on the truth of God's Word. Twice five 
are ten, if the multiplication table is true. The Chris- 
tian has as strong evidence to commence with as is 
necessary, and can have it increased if he will do his 
duty. If we were required to believe a doctrine by 
pure mental volition, without evidence or connection 
with other known truth, we would be justified in re- 
fusing. It has been said we have our natural senses, 
and they can decide what is true or false, and any 
claim to powers beyond is fanaticism or presumption. 
But, suppose the objector had been present on the 
night when Huyghens discovered the rings of Saturn 
by the aid of a telescope, he might have said that he 
could not see the rings, nor had any man in the 
world before ever seen them by the eye: and the eye 
w T as the organ of vision, and Huyghens must be mis- 
taken. Now, certainly men are liable to be mistaken ; 
but would there be no way to prove the fact in this 
case? Just move the telescope to another planet, 
and then to another, till it is most evident that they 
all differ. Now, the telescope did not make the 
rings— only revealed them ; they were there before ; 
but the power of the unassisted eye could not see 
them. So, faith is to the soul what the telescope is to 
the eye ; and as to the truth of what faith sees, that 
can be proved in one case as well as in the other. 



62 



SERMONS. 



And it must be proved by personal experiences to be 
fully received. 

And there wanteth not a multitude of the best 
minds to testify to this. Dr. Maskelyne disputed 
with Sir Isaac Newton about this faith, and Newton 
said: "I have examined this subject, and you have 
not." This was the best answer that could possibly 
be made, and from a man who had spent most of his 
life in analytical researches, where the greatest 
power of intellect was required, and by one who had 
been a very prince of doubters in science, who had 
pulled down many of the old established theories in 
philosophy, that had been taken for granted for ages, 
and who will ever stand at the very head of dis- 
coverers and scholars to the end of the world. 

We hear men say they will believe nothing they 
do not understand ; but if they would think more, 
and use their faculties in this, as in other matters, 
they would see otherwise. The truth is, we under- 
stand very little of what we believe; the most of 
what we know and believe is on the testimony of 
others. We all believe in the sphericity of the earth, 
and that it is flattened at the poles, but how few 
have investigated for themselves. We believe this 
and thousands of other things on the testimony 
of others, and we are judges as to the weight of 
testimony. 

The exercise of faith may be compared to the 
discoveries made by an explorer, or discoverer, who 
with a little evidence at first follows on as he gains 



FAITH. 



63 



further evidence, till lie finds out what nature "will do. 
Professor Morse found out that a galvanic current 
would follow a metallic wire without occupying any 
appreciable time from one city to another ; and hav- 
ing discovered this, he knew what it would do when 
tried again. So the believer finds out what God will 
do, and by trust, and repeated trial, learns the 
infallible "Word of God, and relies on it, as firmly as 
we know any thing that we have proved. We call 
this experience ; and this is why it is said, ie the trial 
of your faith which is much more precious than gold 
that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, may be 
found unto praise and honor and glory." And in 
this glorious succession of discoveries the believer 
goes on from faith to faith. 

The exercise of faith is not a low, credulous, su- 
perstitious, presumptuous outgrowth of ignorance, but 
is one of the highest offices of the soul. It is higher 
than the boldest adventurer who enriches the nations 
with new sources of wealth, and greater channels of 
commerce. The soul's telescope sweeping the heavens 
of promises, and " seeing Him who is invisible," ob- 
tains everlasting life. Although the Scriptures refrain 
from heroizing its characters, in marked contrast with 
other ancient books, yet to those men of mighty 
faith, we see that God gives a place above the kings 
of the earth : not in empty titles, but in rich and 
endearing honors, that raise man to the highest place 
of son ship with his God. No earthly honor or title 
will compare with that received by Abraham as the 



64 



SERMONS. 



result of his faith— " the friend of God." And the 
intimacy of Enoch, who by faith walked with God 
three hundred years, and had the testimony that he 
pleased God — this walking is higher than the high- 
est places of the earth, and to please God better than 
the applause of nations, and homage of all the king- 
doms of the earth. 

Faith enabled Noah to ride in triumph and safety 
above a drowning world. It enabled Moses to for- 
sake Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, who 
was one of the haughtiest tyrants, and taskmasters 
that ever made an enslaved people cry on account of 
hard bondage ; marching his people in safety, through 
sea and wilderness: calling bread from heaven, and 
water from the rock, filling nations with wonder and 
fear on his march; clearing a way through the wide 
waste of wilderness, with cloud and pillar for senti- 
nel and guide; surpassing in grandeur and success 
all the pageantry and power of miltary campaigns of 
the earth. 

And when the time for still higher trust, honor, 
and office came, God called Moses up the awful heights 
of quaking Sinai, amid fire and thunder and light- 
ning, and the trumpet waxing louder and louder, till, 
in the presence of Jehovah, he reached up his mor- 
tal hands, and took down the moral law, which was 
to be for all time and all the generations of man. 
Here was honor, compared to which all the ermined 
judges of earthly courts were as mere commoners. 
Many of the distinguished honors put upon those 



FAITH. 



65 



that believe may be found in the eleventh chapter 
of Hebrews, where we see a sea divided, kingdoms 
subdued, lions harmless, fire quenched, the sword es- 
caped, men valiant in fight, aliens made to fly, the dead 
raised, and many mighty deeds which there was not 
room to record. Those were mighty men, of whom 
the world was not worthy, and whose immortal mem- 
ories will stay green, and whose joys will be fresh, 
when their titled rulers and persecutors, that dwelt 
in palaces and fared sumptuously every day, shall lie 
as low as beggars, and their earthly power and pride 
be buried in the long lost ages of sin and death. 

Second. Faith the only condition of salvation. 

This is always a wonder at first to the inexperi- 
enced, and will always remain a puzzle to those who 
will not examine it. The shortest and strongest 
reason we can give, or rather that God gives, is, 
" therefore it is of faith, that it might he by grace." 
(Rom. iv, 16.) Salvation is free, and God has de- 
termined this one way to bestow it. " By grace are 
ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves ; 
it is the gift of God." (Eph. ii, 8.) This grace, or 
gift of salvation, is as free and abundant as the air 
we breathe. But as the lungs only are made to 
breathe, so faith only is the condition of salvation. 
God never made any other organ to breathe but the 
lungs, and just as certainly did he never make any 
other way of receiving the gift of salvation but by 
faith. This should be settled, and firmly fixed in the 

mind soon, or grievous mistakes will be made, and 

6 



66 



SERMONS. 



the way of salvation appear hard when it is not. 
And this great fundamental doctrine may be easily 
settled in the mind of the common reader, without 
teacher or commentator, for there is no truth, doc- 
trine, or revelation in the New Testament, that 
stands out bolder and is oftener stated than this. 
This is the very disk and central idea of the new cove- 
nant, about which there has never been much dispute. 

Like any great discovery, where the finder is en- 
riched, we come upon this doctrine with wonder and 
delight. It is to the finder, as one who was seeking 
for lost and valuable treasure, and had expected to 
endure much, to wait long and work hard, when sud- 
denly the great giver and intercessor terminates the 
work by freely granting all, and more than was 
expected. 

One of the most common errors of those seeking 
pardon is to want to do some great thing. Since the 
leprous Captain Naaman's long and vexatious ride 
round by the king — instead of the more direct and 
wise way of going straight through, by the prophet, to 
J ordan — this is a common mistake. It arises from not 
fully considering that salvation, from the lowest to 
the highest degree, is absolutely free ; and, also, from 
confounding some things that attend it with the con- 
dition of it ; such as repentance, prayer, and good 
works. Let it ever be kept in mind that faith only 
is the condition. First after hearing comes faith, 
then all the other desirable things will come along and 
follow after. 



FAITH. 



67 



If any one should desire to see the reason for this, 
let him try the case. Suppose salvation be of works, 
then it can not be. free — " Not of works lest any 
man boast." Suppose it be of suffering; then some 
could not hold out. Suppose it be a sum of money; 
then the poor could not be saved. Suppose it be by 
baptism into a certain Church ; then it would be a form, 
and all others equally eligible would be left out by no 
fault of their own. And so, on any other condition 
than faith, it can not be a gift. We see then that 
faith is the only condition by which we can get the 
free gift, and, at the same time, God be " just and the 
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. It is as good 
a test of loyalty and sincerity as the most painful 
sufferings would be, and letter; for any kind of good 
works would have whereof to boast ; but faith stands 
clear out on the word of God with nothing to offer, 
nothing to suffer, nothing to weigh or measure, noth- 
ing by which to find a claim on God. 

Saving faith does n't wait to dress up before going 
to the king — does n't prepare — get ready — doesn't ex- 
pect to feel right first, but in utter poverty of spirit and 
resources of its own, in utter helplessness. All hope 
from living better in the future, and promises, or 
resolutions, are abandoned, and all self-righteousness 
scattered and lying round like filthy rags, despair 
standing at the door, nothing is left but him that 
loved us and gave himself for us. 

"Other refuge have I none; 
Hangs my helpless soul on thee." 



68 



SERMONS. 



Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. He gets the glory, 
and we the joy. 

Should any one still have doubts as to the only 
condition, let him take a Concordance and read all 
the texts that express the terms, and he will see that 
the list will be long, and that nothing but faith is re- 
quired. It will also be observed that of all the per- 
sons that came to Christ for any thing, he required 
faith, and nothing else. Should any one think we 
favor antinomianism, or look too lightly on repent- 
ance and good works, Ave answer, that thus far we 
have been speaking of the condition of salvation. 
Good works, acceptable to God, are the fruit of faith, 
and invariably follow it; and should a man say he 
hath faith, and have not works following, his faith is 
dead. Indeed the only works acceptable to God, and 
that will hold out, are such as spring from and go 
along with faith. Faith is the tree, and works the 
fruit. The fruit does n't bear the tree, but the tree 
bears the fruit. We are not to obtain salvation by 
works, but we are to prove it by works. 

A question is sometimes asked, Is this faith the 
gift of God, or the act of the creature ? We answer 
that it is both. Without the Holy Spirit to quicken 
and convict, we would forever remain dead in tres- 
passes and sins. There is a manifestation of the 
spirit given to every man to profit withal, and a 
" light that lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world." This grace, necessary to believe, we must 



FAITH. 



69 



have ; and this is promised. But God will no more 
believe for us than he will repent for us. We are 
commanded to believe, and threatened if we refuse 
to believe. " We conclude, therefore, that a man is 
justified by faith without the deeds of the law." 

Third. The experience of faith. 

No one will believe, till he finds out for himself, 
the wonderful advantage of an active, tried faith. 
Till then Christ's descriptions of the power read like 
exaggerations. But whoever will believe- his words, 
and go forward, from faith to faith, as an experi- 
menter, explorer, or discoverer, using his faculties, 
and making much of the subject as every explorer or 
discoverer does who finds any thing; and, like him, 
being willing to be tried, and to meet obstacles should 
they come, will find himself not only the " friend of 
God," but in possession of new power and indescriba- 
ble advantage, greater than talent, or genius, or a 
prodigy of intellect; greater than any thing earthly, 
or merely human. Compared to this, the long-sought 
problems of scholars and philosophers — such as the 
quadrature of the circle, the inextinguishable flame, 
the perpetual motion, or the philosopher's stone — are 
mere trifles. 

An enterprising faith will soon go on to such a 
rich experience, and so work by love and so purify 
the heart, winning such repeated victories, that it 
may be said of one who possesses it, that he walks 
with God, and has the testimony that he pleases God. 
And not only so, but he is so pleased with God's 



70 



SERMONS. 



wonderful revelations, and condescension, and neb 
gifts, that his whole life becomes a series or suc- 
cession of victories, and knowledge of the Spirit's 
ways and power. Duty becomes a delight, and trials 
are met without fear. Christ's strong words are fully 
believed and appropriated for what he intended. 

But let no one suppose that this faith, in its 
mighty uplifting of the soul into new and wonderful 
experience and knowledge, will require or exact any 
thing unreasonable, either in doing or suffering. It 
demands nothing contrary to the most rational and 
best style of moral and physical nature; nothing 
whimsical or ritualistic ; nothing like the penances of 
Catholics, or pains of pagans. On the contrary, it 
is the easy wearing of the easy yoke, and the light 
carrying the light burden. 



HOLINESS. 



71 



VI. 

HOLINESS. 

" Be ye holy." — I Peter i, 15. 

If an angel, straight from heaven with a message 
for me, and standiug in person, were to announce that 
I might choose any one thing within the power and 
riches of God to give, and it should be granted, I 
would not hesitate a moment to decide. It would 
neither be a throne nor crown, but a holy heart. For 
I am sure that would be most like God, and most 
pleasing to him, and altogether best for me, both in 
this world and in the world to come. It would not 
only be intrinsically and supremely good in its na- 
ture, but would call after it and carry with it all that 
my heart could desire, or to which my mind could 
aspire. Holiness is the old divine plan on which 
man was first made ; the pristine or primordial condi- 
tion, the Eden life of God's " own image" — " oivn 
likeness;" before the serpent spoke, or the sting of 
death was unsheathed. And if ever man gets back to 
God, it must be on this same unchangeable principle. 

The text may be found with very little variation 
of words, in many places in the Old and New Testa- 
ments. Some have said that we can not be holy in 



72 



SERMONS. 



this life ; but this text, which is a command coupled 
with a reason, is for this life, and not the next. "Be 
ye holy" is to the living, not the dead. 

First. What is the state of the heart after justi- 
fication? 

It is very important to know what state we 
are in immediately after conversion. A mistake 
here may be fatal to success, and may run on through 
life, hiding the glorious power and liberty of the Gos- 
pel, burdening the soul with a yoke heavier than 
Christ's easy yoke, and fettering the soul's powers 
in continual discouragement. 

The state of the heart after conversion is freedom 
from guilt, with new knowledge and power, and the 
witness of the Spirit, but not sanctified wholly; not 
wholly delivered from sinful tempers and desires; not 
yet baptized with the Holy Ghost, nor fully up to 
the high promised privilege of the Gospel. This is a 
common ground of belief by nearly all Christian 
writers of the different denominations. And this is 
the common experience of all Christians that have 
any experience on the subject. This was certainly 
the teaching of the apostle when he wrote to the 
Corinthian Church immediately after they were con- 
verted: "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you 
as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto 
babes in Christ, . . . for ye are yet carnal." Now, 
these babes were certainly converted, for an uncon- 
verted person can not be a babe in Christ. This 
doctrine is also taught by the apostle to the Corin- 



HOLINESS. 



73 



thians, when he writes to that Church, — " Having, 
therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse 
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 
perfecting holiness in the fear of God.'" Certainly 
these Corinthians were converted, but not wholly 
sanctified: there was some filthiness of flesh and spirit 
to cleanse away yet. 

This being the doctrine of nearly the whole Chris- 
tian Church, we need not quote farther. We only 
know of one writer, and lie of not much force, that 
took the contrary view. Count Zinzendorf anil his 
followers in 1736 taught that a man is wholly sancti- 
fied, at the same time he is justified. Mr. Wesley 
replied to Zinzendorf and others that held that view, 
and showed how contrary to Scripture and experience 
it was. A few persons yet maintain Zinzendorfs 
idea, but we remind them that they face the whole 
Christian world. If any will contend that justification 
is the highest state in this life, we answer that it must 
be the lowest, for any state lower than that would be 
no salvation at all. If any would examine this sub- 
ject at length, we would direct them to Bishop 
Foster's work on tl Christian Purity;'' or "Light on 
the Pathway of Holiness," by Dr. M'Cabe; or best of 
all, Wesley's li Plain Account of Christian Perfection.'' 

Second. What lias Christ promised f This is a 

most important subject to a young Christian. What 

is my privilege ? What is my hope ? What may I 

expect when I pray ? Can I get clear of these sinful 

tempers that trouble me ? They are enemies like the 

7 



74 



SERMONS, 



Canaanites that stayed in the land to vex the children 
of Israel. Can they be conquered and killed, or 
must I fight them till death carries me out of their 
sight and delivers me from their power? On such a 
subject as this the Scriptures must decide. Yet, 
first, it may be well to state that the general belief 
of the Churches is that Christ has made a full atone- 
ment for actual and inbred sin, and that salvation 
must be in this life. ^^ T e except Roman Catholics 
who believe in purgatory. But the Calvinistic 
Churches have generally taught that the soul is not 
wholly sanctified till death — that sinful tempers re- 
main till the end of life. They, however, believe that 
these corruptions can be weakened by self-denial and 
prayer. But, we are glad to know that of late very 
many that formerly held these views are coming to 
see that they had made too much allowance for 
sin, and had not sufficiently apprehended the mighty 
power of Christ to save, and that these internal ene- 
mies may be given up and entirely taken away long 
before death. 

Our doctrine is, that Christ's benefits are com- 
plete, and that he is " able to save them to the utter- 
most that come unto God by him." But the difference 
between the Churches, as to doctrine, is not great ; as 
to our state or Christ's power, it is nothing. The 
only difference is as to time, and, perhaps, our ability. 
The question is not what we can do, but what Christ 
can do with us and in us with our consent and faith. 
In other words, is Christ able to save from all sin 



HOLINESS. 



75 



noiv? for it will not be denied that he is able just at 
or before death. Now, this great question must be 
settled by the Word of God. 

We can not find a single text that refers to sal- 
vation, high or low, when we come to die. " When we 
come to die" is a very common form of words, but 
not found in Scripture, nor is there a single passage 
in all the great promises that refers to the dying hour 
for full salvation. If Christ has made a full atone- 
ment for all kinds of sin, and we are the objects of 
his love, why wait till death for the benefit? 

But, will it be said we are gradually to put away 
our sinful tempers and desires ? We answer, There 
is no Scripture for gradually putting away sin, nor 
any to show that Christ gradually saves us from sin. 
If any one doubts our statement, let him read the 
great commands and promises and see how this is. 
4 *'Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy 
heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind." 
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which 
is in heaven is perfect." " The blood of Jesus Christ 
cleanseth us from all sin." So we see this gradual 
idea, either as applied to justification or entire sancti- 
fi cation is un scriptural. If it were true, it would 
allow us to hold on to some sin till others were taken 
away. And we are very sure that it is much easier 
to give up all than a part, and the quicker the easier. 
Does any one say this is a dying process ? So it is. 
But who says slow dying is easier than quick ? 

But is not the work of salvation gradual in some 



76 



SERMONS. 



sense ? Yes, it is ; but not a gradual growing out sin, 
or putting away evils slowly that you should put 
away instantly. A man may be gradually mortifying 
the deeds of the body and gradually coming nearer 
to salvation, getting more information and stronger 
convictions, and a greater hatred to sin; but the time 
must come when he gives up, and then Christ will save 
in a moment. This applies equally to those seeking 
pardon or entire sanctification. That text, " Grow in 
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ," has no reference whatever to growing 
out sin, but refers to a growth in holiness, " grace and 
knowledge" Growth is a good word, but is often mis- 
applied. It is safe always to associate health with 
growth, and to remember that no one will grow so 
fast as those that are pure. And a growth that does 
not take place now, is only a postponement and a de- 
ception. First, get into grace, and then grow in it. 
Do n't suppose you can grow into it. There is no 
kind of sin that God would not have us give up im- 
mediately. He hates sin in the human heart as much 
as he hates it in heaven. Who will say what sin 
can not be given up and put away ? Take the cata- 
logue of sins : begin with the biggest and blackest, 
and go through to the least and the lightest. TVe 
do not say that we always mil, but that we al- 
ways can. 

T\ r e are not to forget that the almighty love of 
God is on this holy side of the question, and the 
fallen, carnal, cowardly, sin-loving, flesh-pleasing, 



HOLINESS. 



77 



fearful, unbelieving heart, is on the sin side — the 
postponement, " gradual," " come-to- die" side of the 
question. God loves the human heart above all the 
marble or crystal palaces ever built (Isa. lvii, 15) ; 
and he wants it for himself, and has promised to 
make it a temple of the Holy Ghost. To quote all 
the passages where full salvation is promised, would 
be to transcribe a great part of the New Testament. 
And to call the witnesses for the experience, with 
Paul at their head, and question them one by one, 
you would but have a repetition of what the great 
apostle has already said. But question: What is 
Christ able to do? Answer: "Able to do exceeding 
abundantly above all that we ask or think, according 

7 o 

to the power that worketh in us." (Eph. iii, 20.) 

If any one has doubted, let him see \ let him go 
to God with these "great and precious promises," 
and cast himself on the merits and love of the Re- 
deemer, and let him do thi s now — not waiting for 

o 

feeling or any more convenient season — and he will 
soon join in with the apostle's words, " able to do 
exceeding abundantly." 

Having considered our state, and Christ's power, 
we are now ready to consider, 

Third, What is our ability ? 

Are we able to do our whole duty? or are the 
commandments too rigorous, and the law too hard a 
"schoolmaster?" We are not under the law, but 
under grace ; school is out, and the master is gone. 
Now, love is the fulfilling of the law. Now, faith is 



78 



SERMONS. 



" counted for righteousness." Now, Christ is the 
end of the law for righteousness to them that believe. 
But are we under no law? We are; but it is love, 
and is called the " law of liberty." 

We will not here notice the old controversy of 
human ability and inability, but state in plain terms 
that we have a gracious ability to do our whole duty, 
if we will to do it. We are conscious of this, unless 
spoiled by false doctrine. It stands thus : I know I 
can do right, and feel condemned when I do wrong ; 
and am sure that I might have done otherwise. This 
is ethics and casuistry enough for any honest man. 
Now, what does God require of me that I may be 
holy ? If to keep a perfect ceremonial law, I can 
not do it; but, if to love him with all my heart (He 
to dwell in my heart), I know I can. What we have 
to do is not so very great or hard, but very positive 
and particular. The way is not steep or dangerous, 
long or weary, but straight and narrow; no heavy 
burden or hard yoke; not any thing as hard or 
heavy as my old tax-making sins. The one great 
absolute condition is faith. As our race went out 
from God by unbelief, we must go back by faith. 
Can I believe? Believe what? Believe God. Have 
I not already believed, and has he not taken away 
my guilt ? And if, when dead in trespasses and sins, 
he helped me to believe then, will he not now when I 
have so much more light and knowledge of Him ? 
If it was in the Virgin Mary, or any other object in 
the heavens or earth, I might hesitate; but when 



HOLINESS. 



79 



I think of him who loved me, and gave himself for 
me, there is no room for doubt. 

But it will be said we must make a full consecra- 
tion of our whole nature to God. True, we must lose 
one life to gain another. To do this is not against us, 
but the most direct way to do ourselves good. But 
is it not very difficult? This depends on the way we 
treat it. If we attempt to consecrate gradually, and 
feel our way along by carnal sense; and while we 
dedicate a part, hold on to another part — give Christ 
the sitting-room, but reserve the parlor for company 
that may come ; here is trouble, darkness, and delay. 
Right here let us tell a great and valuable truth. 
Dedicate quickly. Make your decision in a moment, 
and execute it at once. Naaman's mistake ought to 
be a lesson. Instead of going away round by the 
king, he ought to have driven straight through by the 
prophet, and jumped into Jordan, and been telling 
his experience rather than getting into a rage, and 
well-nigh turning back with the leprosy clinging to 
him. How common for us to want to go to a funeral 
first, before we go along with Christ (Lu. ix, 59), 
or even go and bid somebody good-bye, or any thing 
at all, so that the heart can get away from the now, 
the effectual NOW. Here many overestimate what 
they have to do and suffer, and make trouble, and 
excite fear — all because they do not act at once. As 
a great man once said, one act of faith outweighs 
whole years of repentance. 

Although the seeker knows the Lord does not 



80 



SERMONS. 



require him to do some great thing, yet he is not 
ready to believe till he tries his own way. The truth 
is, Ave have very little to give up, or dedicate, as will 
be seen after Ave get through; and if we had millions 
more than we have, here comes the promise of a 
"hundred fold more" than we received, "according to 
the riches of his glory." What we give up we do not 
need, either for soul and body. It is only a few coun- 
terfeit coins with dead Caesar's likeness on them, 
rightly named by the apostle (Phil, iii, 8), while we 
are offered the costly pearl and tried gold. 

But while Ave are speaking of our ability, it is to 
be understood that faith goes before every thing, and 
makes way for the ready exercise of our natural fac- 
ulties. Without faith there is no way to get to God; 
even love can not reach the object. Love has no 
place to stand, or work, or shine. This faith is one 
of the highest and noblest operations of the mind, the 
advantage and power of Avhich no one will understand 
till he finds it out by experience. Without this, the 
stoutest iron will-power of man will come down into 
the blinding dust of confusion and defeat. Faith is 
related to ability, as eyes to a giant. The human 
will is a giant; but without faith it is only a blind 
Samson dying with his enemies. 

Much has been said in derision of men of One 
idea ; but Ave here record our approbation of that man 
who has one great fixed idea, overruling all other 
ideas, and bringing into subordination and subjection 
all other thoughts and things, great and small, and 



HOLINESS. 



81 



keeping to this one great idea of being altogether 
holy. This one idea will not make a monastic, or a 
recluse. This man will be no solivagant Pharisee; 
nor will he be an abstractionist, nor in any way 
thereby unfitted for the greatest usefulness in society. 
It will make the highest style of a man that can be 
made in this life. And this man will not be uncon- 
scious of his rich possession, and will soon see that 
having this, he can well afford, like the apostle, to 
count every thing else that would claim his heart 
"loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
his lord." 

It is not strange that believers should differ about 

CD 

holiness, as to the mode of presenting it, and the 
choice of terms, but it is strange that any who have 
been regenerated should not be interested in a subject 
without which heaven itself would not be desirable. 
After conversion, holiness is the main subject. A 
preacher or leader who never refers to it in his 
teachings is like one sitting down to a table neither 
eating himself nor helping others. And a preacher 
who lives on through life with nothing but convic- 
tions for holiness will some time see his incalculable 
loss of various kinds. A Christian who lives a low 
life in religion impresses his children and others that 
are much with him unfavorably. No wonder they 
do n't want such a religion. It is not joyful, nor 
even cheerful. 

It is important that a believer take the highest 
path soon after conversion, so as to meet and resist 



82 



SERMONS. 



temptation with success ; for the ease with which we 
meet and overcome temptation is the measure of our 
religion. A bucket of water now is better than a 
steam fire-engine after fire and despair get a start. 
It is a great matter to get the start in a race. And 
it is of great advantage to occupy high ground in 
battle. General Meade, at the battle of Gettysburg, 
had the advantage of General Lee, in that he had 
ground so high as to see both armies. It is of great 
importance to have the heart fully occupied; as Mr. 
Wesley says, " what God occupies, neither Satan nor 
sin can occupy." And truly the great heart power 
of full salvation is enough to take up and enamor 
the affections to the exclusion of all sin. 

Much has been said about living holy, as if that 
were the way to become holy ; the fruits are praised, 
but nothing said of the tree that bears them. It is 
true that a tree is known by its fruits, but fruits will 
not produce a tree, and a tree must be planted before 
any fruits can be seen. A man once said the best 
way to get sanctified is to take a basket on your arm 
and go among the poor. No doubt but many a man 
would be willing to take two baskets ; but that is not 
the condition of -salvation. We say nothing against 
the baskets, but insist that it is " not of works, lest 
any man boast." We must be holy before we can 
live holy. Good works must follow, not lead. Nor 
will any cne hold out in any good work very long 
unless the heart is in it. The condition is faith— 
good works the fruit. Christ required faith of all 



HOLINESS. 



83 



that came to him and it is noteworthy that he never 
required works first. Works are good, and they show 
faith; but as a condition of either justification or 
sanctification, works can neither be counted in by the 
law nor smuggled in by merit. 

And so likewise the subject of humility is abused. 
There is a deception that goes on in the name of 
being humble that is a subtle and dangerous kind 
of pride. We hear a man say, I am nothing ; I 
do n't profess much and am none of the sanctified, 
and then follows a stereotyped confession of sins. 
Now this sounds humble, but the deception is not 
discovered by the man himself. This language is so 
near like the truth, and is partly truth, that if the 
man says any thing he must say nearly this. But 
much of this is self-praise in the dress of humility — 
the true feeling of the man is, I am not any worse 
than others, and as I do n't profess any thing, I am 
better than others. I can go under the name of 
humility, which is to my credit, and which can not be 
called in question. This kind of humility is the re- 
sult of disobedience and unfaithfulness, and it is like 
the poverty of the indolent and improvident. It is 
like some poor lazy men that are continually talking 
against the pride of the rich, when the only reason 
in the world that they are not rich is their indolence 
or vice. This same kind of self-imagined humility is 
spoken out by a wicked man when you speak to him 
about religion. He justifies himself by saying, " I am 
no professor; I am no hypocrite; I am right out what 



84 



SERMONS. 



I am." And if you speak with him a little further he 
will indirectly let you know that in his humble way he 
is better than the members of the Church, and it is 
not hard to see that this is a negative way of boast- 
ing. There is an immense amount of confession of 

sins that is nothing but negative boasting for if 

sins are confessed and not forsaken, the man either 
deceives himself, or tries to deceive others. 

But what ought a holy man to think of himself? 
We answer that he will as certainly think and speak 
humbly of himself as that he is holy. But there is a 
point here of great importance not often noticed. 
Nothing under the name of humility must hinder a 
man from reckoning himself dead indeed unto sin and 
alive unto Christ, or from keeping a clear sense of 
the fact of his consecration every moment. Why is 
this necessary ? Because the very moment we lose 
sight of our dedication and sanctification we are in 
danger. Suppose the Jewish priests had forgotten 
that every thing in and about the temple was sancti- 
fied, how soon would they be putting these holy things 
to a common use, as they did sometimes when the 
wrath of God came on them ? So, then, if we would 
be kept from sin, we must consider our souls and 
bodies separated unto God, our bodies the temples of 
the Holy Ghost. This abiding sense of our consecra- 
tion revolts at the first appearance of evil. Brick 
and mortar are not to be carried in silver vases ; but 
after a silver vase is used and fouled with dirt and 
rubbish, it is easy to say, It is soiled, any way, use it. 



HOLINESS. 



85 



He is a happy man who has settled this matter, 
and holds a fixed and final settlement of occupation, 
so that all debate is at an end. Peace and victory 
reigns. Not that such a one is exempt from tempta- 
tion, but temptation falls powerless before his high 
and heavenly loyalty. His battles will be fewer and 
shorter, and his victories always complete. Some 
persons seem to be inquiring not how much holiness 
we may have, but how little will do, as if it were most 
humble to be without it; or, as if it would cost more 
than it is worth; or, as if it would be in the way of 
present enjoyments; or, may be, not understood by 
others, or spoken against by those we depend on for 
favors, or as if a low state were safer and easier than 
a high state, or in some way an inconvenience in this 
life. The very opposite of this should prevail : hun- 
ger" is the word our Lord uses, and on which the 
promise comes, " Blessed are they which do hunger 
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." 
The great want of an invalid is appetite : hunger he 
mud have to get well. No mineral spring, nor travel, 
nor foreign clime, nor medicine can help him, unless 
he can get an appetite. Even the most abundant and 
delicious food is of no use, unless he has hunger for it. 
So, in the Church, it is not more time we want, or bet- 
ter opportunities, but strong desire, steady, deter- 
mined purpose. 

No one will come into possession of this great 
treasure without using his natural faculties, especially 
that of faith. Let no one expect to be drifted along 



86 



SERMONS. 



by supernatural power. It is true that the efficiency 
is of God, but he will not give it if we refuse to ex- 
ercise our powers. And why not? For this is the 
grandest field for human endeavor that can be offered 
in this world, or, perhaps, in any world. It is very 
doubtful if ever again to all eternity we will have such 
high privilege of doing any thing so great as to be- 
come like our Lord. Marco Compioni was the archi- 
tect of the great Milan cathedral, and for more than 
five hundred years it has stood to his honor; but how 
much greater will be these, our bodies, if we see that 
they be the temples of the Holy Ghost? for they will 
live and shine when Marco's work has gone back 
to dust, 

Fourth. Experience. 

Wq have a brick and straw experience; then a Red 
Sea Experience; then a wilderness experience; then a 
Canaan experience; some, however, stop short, and, 
because of unbelief, never enter in. It has been said 
that the doctrines of holiness ought to be restated; 
but we think it ought to be re-experienced. As in 
science, so in religion: the discoverer does not make 
any new laws or powers; he only discovers what ex- 
isted from the Creation. He only finds what nature 
will do. for her laws are uniform. So the man of a 
rich experience finds out what God will do, for his 
promises are fixed. This becomes experience, and 
happy is that man that becomes a holy discoverer. 

Without experience there is danger of wrong views 
or entire neglect of the subject. Sometimes there is 



HOLINESS. 



87 



a disposition to querulousness and criticism that is 
very discouraging to any that would go on. It is a 
sad state of things when young and loving hearts 
have just got into the beauty of holiness, and need 
instruction and encouragement, but receive nothing 
but criticism and suspicion from their teachers. Noth- 
ing can make up for this want of experience. Neither 
theological learning, nor high office in the Church, 
nor age in the ministry, nor great talent in the pulpit 
will in the slightest degree be a substitute. On the 
contrary, these things may have the opposite effect, 
for sometimes " knowledge puffeth up." Those fa- 
vored men of advantage ought to be foremost and 
highest in holiness ; but they seldom are. 

The Scribes and Jewish doctors, with their su- 
perior knowledge of the Scriptures, ought to have 
been foremost to receive Christ, but they were his 
greatest persecutors. Xo doubt those men thought 
they were the truest and best members of the Church. 
We must not look too much to the upper circles of 
the Church for holiness, or we will be mistaken and 
disappointed. It never was so since Christ said, " The 
poor have the Gospel preached unto them." It is 
often said that persons believing and confessing per- 
fect love should be very modest in expressing them- 
selves. This is true ; but, if so, how modest ought 
those to be who have no experience ! 

The doctrine is not founded on human experience, 
for only the written word of God is the standard of 
doctrine But experience wonderfully strengthens 



88 



SERMONS. 



our faith and illustrates the word. David could not 
have slain Goliath if he had not before that time slain 
a lion and a bear. A good experience in the power 
of God has delivered many a lamb, and slain many a 
Goliath. None will hold out long without an ex- 
perience that worketh hope, and that brings answer or 
return ; hence so many precious promises to Christians 
to be " partakers," — partakers of the " inheritance" — 
" heavenly calling"— " of Christ"— " of the Holy 
Ghost" — "of his holiness" — "of the divine na- 
ture" — " of the glory that shall be revealed." 

A rich and varied experience shows powers and 
advantages that could not be otherwise known. It 
shows that religion is not merely or mainly to keep 
from lying, and swearing, and stealing ; is not a sys- 
tem of mere doing, or not doing, or any kind of rit- 
ualistic performance. It is not the marching and 
counter-marching drill of the old man with his deeds, 
but the new man, which is renewed in knowledge — 
" Christ in you the hope of glory." 

But for experience, a great many of the richest 
and strangest texts of Scripture are as if they were 
written in an unknown language. A holy man sees 
things from the heaven side, while an unholy man 
sees them from the sin side. Pharaoh saw the same 
things that Moses did, but from the Egypt side. It 
was to him thunder and lightning and fear, while to 
Moses, from the Canaan side, it Avas a beautiful pillar 
of fire by night and cloud by day, which was his 
safety and guide. The outlook from a holy heart, if 



HOLINESS. 



89 



sketched or painted, and contrasted with the outlook 
from an unholy heart, would be as the beautiful 
Garden of Eden to the dismal and desolate rocks 
round Sinai. 

To a holy mind the pleasure of thinking of Christ 
is a perpetual luxury. The long nights and weary 
days that others complain of "glide unperceived 
away." A Scriptural experience goes from faith to 
faith, and enters into the wonders and . delights of 
salvation, like one who has discovered a rich mine 
of precious metal, and is drifting in and in, testing 
farther and farther; the new veins extend out every 
way deeper and wider, as the happy experimenter 
goes in, till, discovering his fortune made, he ex- 
claims, " Unsearchable." So the growing Christian, 
after he lets Christ have entire possession of his 
heart, goes on getting acquainted with "him in 
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge ;" till nothing but those high and holy 
inspired words of Scripture will reach the theme — 
" the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, 
that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, 
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance 
in the saints ; and what is the exceeding greatness 
of his power to us-ward who believe, according to 
the working of his mighty power" (Eph. i, 18, 19); 
" that he would grant you according to the riches of 
his glory, to be strengthened with might by his 
Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in 
your hearts by faith ; that ye, being rooted and 



90 



SERMONS. 



grounded in love, may be able ... to know 
the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye 
might be filled with all the fullness of God. 

" Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding 
abundantly, above all that we ask or think, accord- 
ing to the power that worketh in us ; unto him be 
glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all 
ages, world without end. Amen." 



TRAINING CHILDREN. 



91 



VII. 

THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 

" Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old 
he will not depart from it." — Prov. xxii, 6. 

Ten thousand feet above the level of the sea, in 
the Rocky Mountains of the North-vest, is a little 
fountain, that can be turned with your foot either to 
the east or west. If you direct it to the East, it will 
go on down and fall into the Jefferson River, and the 
Jefferson into the Missouri, and the Missouri into the 
Mississippi, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean; 
but if you direct the little stream to the west, it 
will go down into the Salmon River, and the Salmon 
into the Columbia, and the Columbia into the Pacific 
Ocean. So, by a little direction, you can send the 
stream either way ; but how great the difference ! 
One goes into the Atlantic, and the other into the 
Pacific — more than two thousand miles apart. 

And so every human soul that starts on the long 
road of existence has a destiny, and that depends 
greatly on the starting point. As the soul can not 
die, and is capable of vast suffering or pleasure ; 
and, as eternity is long, the direction of such a des- 
tiny must be indescribably great. 



92 



SERMONS. 



First. Responsibility of the parents. 

We might suppose that parental affection would 
be strong enough to guard well this responsible 
charge ; but, alas ! this affection is very much weak- 
ened and perverted by sin, so that many parents 
consider only the affairs of temporal life. They are 
not atheists, or annihilationists, but act toward their 
children as if they were. Next to the salvation of 
his own soul, the parent is charged with the eternal 
state of his own child, which he may gain or lose, 
according as he may be faithful or unfaithful. 

The parent must be impressed with his great re- 
sponsibility— greater than to direct a river, scoop a 

lake, heave a chain of mountains, or make a world 

a responsibility that can not be transferred to 
another, and that nothing but death can sever — a re- 
sponsibility that ought not to be shunned, but loved 
and honored, and kept as we keep the greatest treas- 
ure. In order to see and feel the greatness of this 
responsibility, the parent ought to consider the na- 
ture of his child. At first, without any knowledge or 
experience at all; and as soon as accountability 
dawns, there will be a strong proclivity to evil, as 
experience and Scripture abundantly teach. 

Some parents get the idea that their own chil- 
dren are little angels, and presume on their good 
lives without training. But they are not angels, but 
fallen spirits. A man once said that when he was 
with his own children he thought they were little an- 
gels, but when he was with other people's children 



TRAINING CHILDREN. 



93 



he thought they were little devils. But parents ean 
love their children most tenderly without ignoring the 
fact that they are depraved. No man is fit to train 
a child or any other creature, that do n't understand 
its nature. A gentleman once had a beautiful little 
tiger that seemed innocent, and the owner believed, 
as some people believe of children, that all the evil 
and wild nature of the tiger was in habit rather than 
in nature; but by this mistake in his belief, he well- 
nigh lost his life, for when the tiger grew up, he at- 
tacked and wounded his owner terribly. 

Second. The parent is bound to secure obedience. 

Obedience is one of the first principles in all 
good governments. We know that some would ex- 
pect us to begin with love, but where there is diso- 
bedience, love can not live a minute. Love is to 
be secured, but not without government. On this 
subject of obedience there is much loose doctrine, 
not to say false doctrine. The plain, wise, inspired 
Word of God, is set aside for the caprices of inex- 
perienced parents who never discover their mistake 
till it is too late. " Children, obey your parents " is 
the law; not cruel, but the kindest that God could 
make. A child that is never taught to obey his 
parents will never be willing to obey the laws of 
the land or the laws of God. The habit of self-will 
becomes chronic, and while it impinges with nothing 
but the yielding parent, there will be no lawsuit, or 
conflict; but when that child grows up, and goes out 
into the world among other self-willed people, there 



94 



SERMONS. 



will be trouble. So that the great kindness that the 
parent thought he was showing was only a prepara- 
tion for evil. Here is where we raise our own 
criminals. Many of the worst men that torment 
every community they live in have been raised by 
kind but misguided parents. Family government is 
the foundation of civil government, and if it is not 
maintained, how are we to expect a good civil gov- 
ernment ? We hesitate not to say that of all the 
multitude of evil-doers that annoy society, and make 
jails and penitentiaries necessary, one of the great- 
est sources is poor family government, and in many 
instances, no government at all. 

Some parents seem to think they are wiser than 
Solomon on this subject. They seem to think that 
a child should not be chastised, as if it was cruel, 
and contrary to love. The infallible Word of God 
is very clear on this matter. It says, "chasten thy 
son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare 
for his crying." This is not cruel, but the neglect 
of it is cruel ; for it is said, " He that spareth the 
rod, hateth his child." This is not only wise and 
safe, but it is the very way our heavenly Father 
treats us. "For whom the Lord loveth he chasten- 
eth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If 
ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with 
sons, for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth 
not? But if ye be without chastisement whereof 
all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not 
sons." So far from this being contrary to love, it is 



TRAINING CHILDREN. 



95 



a healthy, robust, intelligent, far-seeing Bible love, 
that will stand, while the whimpering, Utopian love, 
would not endure in time of trial. 

The dispositions of children are very different. 
Some need very little correction. Nothing requires 
more judgment than this; and woe to that child whose 
father is a fool. No parent is in a proper state of 
mind to correct a child when in a hurry, or in a 
passion. Nor can any man do better than as the 
Bible directs. The shrewdness and management 
of some children is interesting. The father com- 
mands; the son pays no attention. The command 
is repeated, but no attention ; and again he repeats 
it with louder voice; the boy looks up as if it was 
the first time he heard it. Again the father repeats 
the command, with a sharper and louder tone; now 
the boy says to himself, from past experience, it will 
soon be necessary to go, if he speaks once more; but 
it is safe to wait yet, for may be he will do it him- 
self. Both father and son know that it takes about 
six shots to disturb human vis inertice. This heatino* 

o 

up process is repeated every time the father wants 
the boy to do any thing that he do n't want to do, 
Now the question is, whether that boy could be so 
trained, that he would understand the first tellino- to 
be the time to go, as well as to wait till his father 
heats up a little, and repeats the command several 
times If you say, Not without whipping, we deny 
it, for all the boy wants to know is token to go. He 
goes at last because he must. Now, if there was an 



96 



SERMONS. 



understanding between him and his father, it would 
be quite as easy to go at the first as the sixth 
command. Then he will have no "enfant gate" in 
the house. 

Sometimes one of the parents trains the child to 
go at the first bidding, and the other parent do n't, so 
that the child acts accordingly. It may take a little 
care and time to get an understanding; but, when 
once established, it is very pleasant, and makes a bet- 
ter atmosphere for kindness and love in the family. 
It does away with that most unhappy state, so common 
where there is no government, scolding. 

A parent is as much bound to maintain good 
order in his family as to be a good citizen of the 
State, and to neglect it is as clear a violation of the 
law of God as to break any of the Commandments. 
The case of Eli is of this kind. He was a kind man, 
but he did not obey God in maintaining obedience 
from his sons. The result was that they became prof- 
ligate, and ruined the Church and State, and lost 
their lives, and caused the death of their father. 
" For I have told him that I will judge his house for- 
ever for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his 
sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them 
not." (1 Sam. iii, 13.) Eli was, no doubt, a kind, 
easy, presumptuous, slack sort of a man, like thou- 
sands of modern Eli's, who are following in the same 
way, till their gray hairs are brought with sorrow 
down to the grave, and a class of restless, unhappy 
wretches turned out to torment the world. 



TRAINING CHILDREN. 



97 



Some of these mistaken parents satisfy them- 
selves by saying that they do command their children 
earnestly and repeatedly, but the children are way- 
ward. But this reminds us of what the British ad- 
miral said during our war of the rebellion. The 
admiral said he had positively refused to let the 
Tallahassee take in coal at Halifax, but, when the 
facts were known, he had not done so till the Talla- 
hassee had all the coal she wanted. Many parents 
find that there is danger and trouble coming; then 
they suddenly start up and command, and threaten, 
and scold, and may be whip, if they get angry. But 
it is too late. It is not according to Solomon, " He 
that spareth the rod hateth his son ; but he that lov- 
eth him chasteneth him betimes.' 7 And " Chasten 
thy son while there is hope." "A child left to him- 
self bringeth his mother to shame/' This sudden 
storm soon blows over, and accomplishes no good, and 
sometimes much evil. The son knows that this is 
only a gust, and that father will soon settle down 
again and be sorry for this. The boy is not con- 
quered, but only angered. The father is the conquered 
party ; the boy has come off first best. 

But many will say this obedience can be best se- 
sured by love. True, if it is well managed ; but love 
can not live without authority, any more than a flower 
can grow on the crest of a wave. Love can not stand 
long on one foot. Love has rights that spoiled boys 
do not feel bound to respect. Do all you can with 
love, and let patience have its perfect work. Make 

9 



98 



SERMONS. 



much of your charge. Provoke not your children if 
you can do your duty without it. Let no one say 
that we advocate severity. We declare that the plan 
we mention is altogether the most kind, loving, and 
merciful: and, if we are wrong, we have been led 
astray by Solomon. If any man can train his chil- 
dren in any better way, let him try it ; but we must 
be allowed to say that if he does, they are lacking in 
the usual will and brain power that smart children 
generally have. 

Third. The children mast have some employment. 

Many kind parents make a life-time mistake by 
thinking they must leave their children a great amount 
of wealth, so that they need not have any particular 
employment ; so that they can live without work. 
The very thing that a wise and merciful Creator or- 
dained for our health and well-being is ignored, and 
not only so, but often treated as if some disgrace 
was attached to it. We have often known excellent 
parents toil on through life, working like slaves, to 
leave something for their children. But when the 
parents were dead, the children had new notions of 
economy and frugality, and plunged into extravagance, 
doing nothing for themselves or others, wasting the 
property so hardly earned and carefully accumulated, 
and, worst of all, fell into festering wickedness. 
Could those parents look back to this world and see 
their mistake, and could make known their thoughts, 
they would utter a note of warning that would wake 
all the mammonists of this land. 



TRAINING CHILDREN. 



99 



He must be an uncommon boy that can be raised 
in affluence, and, by daily contrast with others, see 
his advantages of property, ease, and power, if he does 
not become a drone or a criminal. Dr. Arnold said, 
"I would rather send a boy to Yan Diemen's land, 
where he must work for his bread, than to Oxford to 
live in luxury, without any desire in his mind to avail 
himself of his advantages." 

As to what kind of employment we should choose 
for our children, depends on their fitness and inclina- 
tion. The tendency is to the learned professions, 
which are already crowded to distress. They may be 
well sometimes, but do not generally become most con- 
ducive to happiness. "We venture an opinion, that of 
all the pursuits and professions none are so likely to 
be conducive to health of body and mind as that of 
agriculture and horticulture. They are sufficiently 
profitable for good living, and are attended with less 
temptations than most other occupations. It seems 
to be in the order of Providence that these pursuits 
should require more persons than any other. When 
God made man, he put him among the trees, and they 
have looked beautiful and inviting ever since. Of 
course, when we mention the cultivation of the soil, 
we mean in an intelligent way, and not the mere 
routine of hard labor, without science or experiment. 

Perhaps these pursuits have been too much asso- 
ciated with oppressive toil; but this ought not to be 
so. This has made many a young man shun the 
farm to seek an easier way to live. We sometimes 



100 



SERMONS. 



hear the old saying, that " all work and no play 
makes Jack a dull boy." True; but let us not go to 
the other extreme; then we might say that all play 
and no work makes Jack a bad boy. 

Fourth. The parent must impress his children 
with the principles of justice and truth. 

Sometimes the child's respect for truth is de- 
stroyed by the loose Way the parent has of keeping 
his word. He threatens to do something if the boy 
don't obey; but the boy knows he won't keep his 
word. The father may think his mercy will make up 
for the truth, and, to please the offender, will make up 
for his falsehood; but he is mistaken. Children are 
excellent moral philosophers, and have reasonings in 
their own minds that would astonish and alarm the 
parents if they knew it. 

Perhaps it may be said that we are too precise or 
too rigid in our views of truth ; but we answer, that 
truth is such a cardinal element in human character 
that it must not be carelessly handled before the 
children, for their temptation to falsehood is very 
great. When the parent is not always true, how can 
he expect the child to be? 

Some parents take to themselves great credit for 
goodness and kindness to their children, because thev 
never coerce them or correct them. The truth would 
be trampled in the dust before their children could be 
corrected; and they call this love. But if it is, it is 
love without eyes. It may be instinct, but is not 
worthy of the name of love. A wise parent will 



TRAINING CHILDREN. 



101 



look to his child's future welfare, rather than his 
present whims. A child that grows up with small 
consciousness for truth will become an easy prey to 
vice, and will make a good blind stool-pigeon for the 
devil. He may have been his father's darling, but 
now becomes his own enemy and slave. 

Justice and fairness must be preserved inviolate 
before the children. Sometimes the parent is teach- 
ing a very bad principle, by his example, without 
knowing it. This is often clone by yielding to his 
feelings, rather than doing what he knows to be 
right. If a boy owns something by gift, or acknowl- 
edged right, and a younger brother wants it, and cries 
for it, the father should not force the owner to give it 
up. This is injustice, and if the father can do this, 
the son will soon copy after him ; and when he gets 
the power he will use it. Both the children are 
spoiled — the elder in the case of justice; the younger 
in indulgence. And then the elder will not be slow 
to see that the father has paid a premium on the cry 
of the younger one. He may say nothing, but his 
strong sense of being wronged, and the younger one 
of being indulged, will weaken his respect for justice, 
and for his father's principles. If it be said the 
father has authority to do so, we grant it ; but he is 
responsible for how he uses it, and for the results of 
it. The child is taking impressions, lasting as life, 
just as the daguerreotype-plate takes whatever is 
placed before it. 

If the parents are of any kind of politics, philos- 



102 



SERMONS. 



ophy, or religion, the children are generally of the 
same belief. Lycurgus taught the Greek children to 
steal and fight; the result was the greatest rascals 
and the most daring fighters in Greece. 

Much has been written about national honor, but 
it must begin in the family. The parent should put 
blame and shame on every breach of honor in his 
boy. Not merely in word, but, by example, should 
he teach this. This can be done in many ways, 
without costing any thing or taking any time, T\ r e 
once knew a man that abounded in wise aphorisms 
and apt quotations, which he used freely before his 
children, which was far better than the small talk and 
coarse anecdotes that take the attention of many 
families. He would sometimes say, " honor bright!" 
"right wrongs nobody" and quote many Scripture 
proverbs, that were made to sparkle before his chil- 
dren. These were more permanent and indoctrinating 
than sermons or books, and agree precisely with 
Deuteronomy, vi, 7, where parents are commanded to 
teach their children " diligently." This word is very 
expressive in the Hebrew — it means " to whet, or 
sharpen, an instrument by repeated or reiterated 
friction." " Thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest 
in the house, and when thou walkest by the way, 
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." 

Fifth. The children must be born again. 

Some parents wonder why their children turn out 
so badly. They say they never taught them such evil 
things, nor did they ever get these evils by the bad 



TRAINING CHILDREN. 



103 



example of their parents. All true ; but the parent 
forgets that his child has never been born but once, 
and he can do evil without being taught, or without 
any example. " They go astray as soon as they are 
born." " Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a 
child." A web-footed fowl will take to the water 
without example. A wolf will eat meat, but a lamb 
won't. "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; 
that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit." Do n't 
be surprised if the children act out their nature; but 
be surprised if they do n't. 

False doctrine on this question is dangerous, and 
has ruined the government of many. It is as if you 
would undertake to train a young lion, believing him 
to be of the nature of a lamb. This is such a rad- 
ical mistake that the whole subject turns on it. 
Some children may live quiet and moral lives, who 
have not been converted; so some palmipedes may 
be kept out of the water, and some carnivorous ani- 
mals may be kept from meat ; but it is with difficulty. 

Be it known to any that love their children, and 
want them to do well in this world, and be safe in the 
next, that the easy way, the wise way, the cer- 
tain way, and the only right way, is to labor for their 
conversion by personal definite effort, w T ith prayer to 
God, and by the aid of the Holy Spirit. Do not de- 
pend on reform, or any thing that others may do, or 
the Sabbath-school, or good influences, but never stop 
till the child is regenerated. And for the encourage- 
ment of any that may try this plan, let no parent 



104 



SERMONS. 



think this is hard or disagreeable work. If his own 
heart is right, it will be delightful work, for success 
is certain. It is not like laboring for the conversion 
of an old hardened sinner that has lived through his 
best convictions. The young heart is not yet loaded 
with many actual sins ; and with a conscience over 
which the hot iron of guilt has seared off its tender 
nature. 

Any truly converted Christian can, if he will, se- 
cure the conversion of his own children, for the 
promise is to us and our children. Soon it will be 
too late. If the parents are not active, sin will set in 
with its hardening, delusive charms and false promises, 
and occupy the thoughts and affections of the child. 
Facilis de scensus Averni. 

"The gates of hell stand open night and day; 
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way." 

The last thing, and one of the most important we 
have to say to the parent is, let your own house be so 
kept and conducted that your children will love it 
better than any other place. And let your religion 
be so sweet and gentle that your children will want 
the same kind. 



THE TONGUE. 



105 



VIII. 
THE TONGUE. 

"The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity : so is the tongue among 
our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on 
fire the course of nature ; and it is set on fire of hell. For 
every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of 
things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed, of man- 
kind. But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly 
evil, full of deadly poison."— James iii, 6-8. 

Diogenes being asked of what beast the bite was 
most dangerous, answered : " Of wild beasts, that of 
the slanderer ; of tame ones, that of the flatterer." 
The different sins ought to be estimated, or rated, ac- 
cording to the harm they do. Many evils are rated 
so high that to commit them a man would entirely 
lose his moral character and standing in community ; 
but the sin of evil speaking, which, in its results, is 
greater and wider, is not considered so disgraceful. 
This arises, perhaps, from its subtlety and common- 
ness. The wisest and greatest men who have written 
on the morals and well-being of society, have estimated 
this one of the greatest of evils. 

In the law of Moses, we read : " Thou shalt not go 
up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people." 
Solomon, who was the wisest man of the human race, 



106 



SERMONS. 



and whose proverbs are greater than the gathered pro- 
verbs of all nations, says some of the strongest and 
most incisive things against this evil. His brightest 
and sharpest apothegms are on this subject. In the 
Book of James we have a whole chapter on the evil 
tongue, and from which we have taken our text. The 
terms seem strong, but when we know the history, 
and especially when we feel the -scourge," the 
" piercing," and the -fire," we will not think the 
apostle's statements too strong. And who has not 
been tossed on this world of iniquity? We are well 
aware that to speak, or write, or think justly on this 
subject, we must have felt its - deadly poison;" and 
certainly he must be a fortunate man if he has not, 
for no station is too high, or none too low, for these' 
a fire-brands, arrows, and death," to reach. 
First. The nature of evil speaking. 
This subtle evil is a form of depravity, as wide- 
spread as the human race, and as prevalent as sin it- 
self. In the world's history of great events from 
small causes, this is the great chapter. In the ger- 
mination of a seed, one cell is the beginning, then 
another, and so on till a great tree is produced. A 
little rill runs on and gathers strength till it becomes 
a great river. A careless word is spoken, and though 
the sound dies away forever, the influence goes on like 
a fire, blackening and destroying as it goes. A single 
thought is the beginning of a foul murder. On this 
principle some of the greatest events in history took 
their rise 



THE TONGUE. 



107 



Warton mentions in his notes on Pope, that the 
treaty of Utrecht was occasioned by a quarrel between 
the Duchess of Marlborough and Queen Anne about 
a pair of gloves. Gibbon tells us that the difference 
in the color of livery at the horse races caused the 
most inveterate factions in the Greek Empire— the 
Prasini and the Veneti, who never suspended their 
animosities till they ruined the unhappy government. 
Louis the YII was required by his bishops to crop 
his hair and shave off his beard. But when Eleanor, 
his consort, found him in this ridiculous appearance, 
she despised him. She took revenge in her own way, 
and the shaved king obtained a divorce. She then 
married the Count of Anjou, afterward Henry II of 
England. She had for her marriage dower the rich 
provinces of Poitou and Guienne, and this was the 
origin of those wars which for three hundred years 
ravaged France, and was a loss to the nation of three 
millions of men. 

Sometimes one vote sets in motion a train of events 
that run on for centuries. One vote annexed Texas 
to the United States, and made war with Mexico. Two 
votes made Kentucky a slave state. One vote pur- 
chased California, and turned the tide of immigration. 
One vote sent Oliver Cromwell to the Long Parlia- 
ment, and Charles Stuart to the scaffold; revolutionized 
England, and made Great Britain free. 

When we examine any great evil, we generally 
find it to be a perverted good; and the greater that 
good, the greater will be the perversion. When an 



108 



SERMONS. 



angel fell, a devil was made; when a Christian Church 
apostatized, the mother of harlots was made. 

The tongue is one of the greatest gifts of the Cre- 
ator, and gives untold advantages, raising man above 
all the other creatures of the earth; but when per- 
verted, it becomes just what our text says, a fire, a 
world of iniquity. Instead of its natural use, with its 
pleasure-making capacities of love, kindness, and 
praise, it is turned to setting " on fire the course of 
nature [depraved nature], and is set on fire of hell." 
This excellent gift of speech becomes one of the most 
dreadful enemies, and often makes life more bitter than 
any thing else we have to bear, as if we had not al- 
ready enough to bear in this life of labor and care 
without tormenting one another! It is a cowardly 
mode of attacking those that have no chance for self- 
defense — a shot from behind a tree. Its very nature 
is opposed to love and the good of others, and is the 
most easy and direct outlet of the vilest nature that 
lives in a fallen soul. In the Scriptures it is classed 
with the sins of deepest darkness. It is one of the 
seven things God hates, and that are "an abomina- 
tion unto him." "A proud look, a lying tongue, and 
hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth 
wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to 
mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that 
soweth discord among brethren." (Prov. vi, 16.) 

"It is a worm that crawls on beauty's cheek, 
Like the vile viper in a vale of flowers; 
It is a coward in a coat of mail." 



THE TONGUE. 



109 



It is of many shades, grades, and tergiversations : 
smooth, cautious, deceptive, careless, cunning, ig- 
norant, inadvertent, blundering, self-defensive, pre- 
cautious, imitative, interesting to others, unburdening 
to the mind, satisfying to depravity, victory to a cow- 
ard, joyful to the jealous, and natural to the devil. 
The smoothness and kindness with which a tongue 
can spoil another's character or interest is as subtle 
as miasm and deadly as malaria; and is like the 
pestilence that walketh in darkness, or thief that has 
made way with the jewels, and can not be traced or 
tracked, or found for trial; and is really more dan- 
gerous than bold-faced falsehood. 

Sometimes the backbiter is like a pig in your 
garden, not knowing how much harm he is doing. 
This kind is of the careless, inadvertent, "don't 
think," loose-talking enemy that is very common, and, 
as a class, the most numerous. He may not be ma- 
licious enough to originate a lie, but stupid enough to 
let himself be used to circulate it. As a repeater, he 
can do as much to hurt his neighbor as if he was the 
originator; for Solomon says, "Where no wood is, 
there the fire goeth out." He also says, " He that 
covereth a transgression seeketh love ; but he that 
repeateth a matter, separateth very friends." The 
tattler is a thief and a robber, whether he knows it or 
not. What is stealing or robbing but taking, without 
liberty, something that belongs to another? And 
the more valuable the thing taken, the greater the 
theft. What, then, can be more valuable than a good 



110 



SERMONS. 



name, which is "rather to be chosen than great 
riches ?" 

Tattlers are like incendiaries, who carry no flam- 
beaus or tinder-boxes in sight, but crawl and creep 
and sneak, with a dastard heart, and reach their vic- 
tim from behind. It do n't require much character or 
good standing to be a first-class tattler. Some per- 
sons seem to have influence in no other way; they 
are like the Mephitis, only noticed for its bad odor, 
and the Hystrix for its quills. Some of these talk- 
ers have talked themselves out of common friend- 
ship into the back seat of neglect, where they are 
shunned and feared; and where, in the solitariness 
of their situation, they vent their sour souls with 
more talk of the same kind, till backbiting be- 
comes a habit, and they live and die miserable 
pessimists. 

The Scriptures describe all classes of tattlers with 
wonderful precision. They are called by names, and 
described in terms terribly exact and severe " back- 
biters," "madmen casting firebrands, arrows, and 
death," "liars," "false witnesses," and so on, agree- 
ing very well with descriptions of the devil him- 
self, who is called the " accuser of the brethren." 
(Rev. xii, 10.) It is the ripened seed of hatred, 
envy, jealousy, cruelty, vindictiveness, and all the 
vile nest of vipers that nestle in a fallen heart. Who 

has not felt this terrible sting — this cruel lash "the 

scourge of the tongue?" No one is exempt from 
this, that the old Romans called " oceanus malorum 



THE TONGUE. 



Ill 



an ocean of evils," from the poorest laborer to Solo- 
mon on his eburnean throne. 

The consequences of this great sin sometimes 
fall on the perpetrator before it reaches his victim. 
No man can cast firebrands, arrows, and death, with- 
out hurting himself. Euthymus was very much re- 
spected; but he lost his life for having said a light 
thing of the Corinthians. Every hostile deed was 
imputed to the necessities of war ; but a satirical and 
censorious expression was considered as the effect of 
hatred and malignity by the Greeks, thus agreeing 
with the texts : " Death and life are in the power of 
the tongue and " whoso keepeth his mouth and his 
tongue keepetli*his soul from troubles." 

Solomon says, " He that passeth by and meddlcth 
with strife belonging not to him, is like one that 
taketh a dog by the ears." So great and wide- 
spread is this evil, that we wonder men don't flee 
from it as from the face of a serpent. " Surely the 
serpent will bite without enchantment, and the babbler 
is no better." This is an evil, not only because it is 
prohibited, but it is an evil in itself. 

It is almost impossible for great talkers to find 
material for their tongues without getting out of the 
right way. Perhaps something is to be allowed for 
the natural loquacity of some persons, and not too 
much credit given to the taciturnity of others ; but 
the latter have the advantage, if not the virtue. 

" Words are like leaves, and where they most abound 
Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found." 



112 



SERMONS. 



To be able to talk, in a continued stream, for a 
great length of time, without saying some foolish or 
hurtful things, would require a great amount of 
knowledge and prudence; and it often happens that 
incessant talkers have neither. On the contrary, with 
scarcely an exception, men of the greatest knowl- 
edge and judgment use the fewest words. They are 
"swift to hear, slow to speak." Solomon describes 
these foolish talkers most sharply, calling them fools 
in several places: "A fool also is full of words." "A 
fool's voice is known by the multitude of words." 
"A fool uttereth all his mind." "In the multitude 
of words, there wanteth not sin." " He that hath 
knowledge spareth his words, and a* man of under- 
standing is of an excellent spirit." " Even a fool, 
when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise." Per- 
haps these passages may seem severe ; but, when we 
consider the importance of the subject, they are not. 
They are not only the wisdom of Solomon, but in- 
spired truth ; and, if regarded, would be a " lamp to 
our feet and light to our path." 

Much of the evil of the tongue comes from a 
certain fondness for telling secrets, especially by 
young and inexperienced persons. The truth is, 
there are but few persons who can keep a secret, 
especially if it is an interesting one. Almost every 
person has a special friend that can be trusted ; and 
that special friend has another special friend that can 
be trusted, and so on, till the secret soon gets out so 
far from home that it is an orphan— without father or 



THE TONGUE. 113 

# 

mother, but not without house or home, for there 
will always be somebody to take it in and nurture it, 
and help it on ; sometimes giving it a new suit. If 
one can not keep his own secrets, how can he expect 
others to keep them ? 

Young persons will not believe what we say till 
they are several times made to suffer from this evil 
by sad experience. 

u If thou wishest to be wise. 
Keep these words before thine eyes ; 
What thou speakest, and how, beware, 
Of whom, to whom, when and where." 

Most talkers are fond of pleasing those to whom 
they talk, and take pleasure in any thing that will 
break the long monotony of common life ; and if they 
think they can get the interest out of their friend's se- 
cret, and so bind it fast that it go no farther, they have 
so much clear gain. These quiddlers will take pleasure 
in telling of a great fire, or a recent robbery, or any cu- 
rious thing. Like vultures, they can make a meal on 
any thing. 

Second. The remedy of evil speaking. 

We have no hope of taming this untamable mem- 
ber, or quenching this fire of hell, or of reversing this 
course of nature, by mere teaching or preaching. We 
know too well the deep fountain out from which these 
wasting streams flow. " Out of the heart proceed 
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, 
false witnesses, blasphemies." Evil speaking is a 

fruit of evil thinking, and this is depraved nature; 

10 



114 



SERMONS. 



and until hatred can be turned to love, there can be 
no permanent remedy. These two kinds of fruits, 
from two kinds of hearts, may be seen classified in 
the fifth chapter of Galatians. The good is described 
in verses 22 and 23; the bad, in verses 19 to 21. 

Who ever knew a mother to slander her own 
child ? Why ? Because she loves it. And so, no 
man ever jet slandered another that he loved. It 
can not be, any more than gravitation can be re- 
versed, or that a holy angel could tell a lie. It may 
be said that we sometimes must defend ourselves 
against our calumniators. But, if we do, it should 
be done with great care— even as one who uses poison 
to kill poison. Let him mind that he does not kill 
more than he cures. Let him be careful that while 
he is claiming to work by the rule of self-defense he 
is not breaking the "golden rule." No man is at 
liberty to break the Word of God. or to manage any 
question of personal interest according to any other 
rule or law than the Holy Scriptures ; and not only 
so, but in every case he would gain by such manage- 
ment. It gives us the advantage of infinite wisdom. 
There is no way by which a man so effectually dis- 
arms an enemy, and takes care of himself, as by 
observing God's directions. " Speak evil of no man." 
" See that none render evil for evil." 

If there is a difference between brethren, the di- 
rections for settling it are plainly given in the 
eighteenth chapter of Matthew, verses fifteenth to 
the seventeenth. This rule is infallible, and, if 



THE TONGUE. 



115 



observed, will as certainly succeed as that water will 
put out fire — probation est. What incalculable good 
this rule would do ! What heart-burnings and bitter 
hatred it would cut short ! By this short and easy 
way, many that have become irreconcilable and im- 
placable enemies might have been life-long friends. 
f< The beginning of strife is as when one lettetli out 
water.'' A spadeful of earth would have saved the 
embankment ; but let alone, the little leak becomes a 
resistless torrent, carrying every thing before it. 

But we do not expect unregenerate men to ob- 
serve Scripture precepts, though they be as much 
bound thereto as others, and the benefits in this case 
would be as great. But have we not a right to 
expect Christians to be thus governed ? Alas, they 
do not always observe these things, and, from this sad 
neglect, the Church has suffered more, socially, than 
from any other cause. Many excellent and prosper- 
ous Churches have been vexed and rent, scattered 
and discouraged, by this fire of hell, till good men 
stand still, and the outside world flee away, as from 
some dead thing. Then follows bitter reproach, and 
one blames another ; and but few attribute the trouble 
to the true cause. Confidence is gone, until every 
man feels as if he was a Selkirk, and lived on some 
Juan Fernandez island, out in the great and wide sea, 
far from society and civilization. 

This sad state of things may be caused in the 
best society. It don't follow that those places that 
are most scourged by this evil are made up of the 



116 



SERMONS. 



worst kind of people. The most thrifty and beautiful 
pear-tree is as liable to blight as any, and sometimes 
its rapid growth makes food for the disease. 

We sometimes hear persons say, This is the worst 
neighborhood in the country : and, if they could only 
live somewhere else, they could be more religious. 
But men are alike every-where, and the "world of 
iniquity " is every-where, only it takes deeper root 
in some places than in others. Thousands of unhappy 
beings have made their own lives and the lives of 
others bitter, without thinking of the cause. Life is 
very much as we make it. " He that will love life 
and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from 
evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.'' "Be 
kindly affectioned, one to another, with brotherly 
love." "Bless them that persecute you; bless, and 
curse not," "Recompense no man evil for evil." " If 
it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably 
with all men." "Avenge not yourselves, but rather 
give place unto wrath." " Therefore, if thine enemy 
hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink, for, in 
so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." 
This is the right kind of fire. 

These are heavenly doctrines. In all the various 
religions of the nations of the earth, there is nothing 
like these pure, revealed doctrines. In vain do you 
look through Yeda and Shaster and Koran for doc- 
trines that make men brothers, and call them back to 
the tree of life and holiness. According to James, 
keeping the tongue is the standard of the highest 



THE TONGUE. 



117 



and hardest discipline the Christian has to maintain ; 
and such a one is called a perfect man. He says : 
" If any man offend not in ivo?xl, the same is a per- 
fect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.''' 
(Jas. hi, 2.) But let no man think that this can be 
done by mere human resolution, for this same apostle 
tells how it is done. "First pure, then peaceable;" 
and this he calls " the wisdom that is from above." 

With these doctrines of new life carried out, the 
heart loses its envy, and the tongue its guile. The 
grand old love chapter, the thirteenth of First Co- 
rinthians, becomes both love and law, and works 
nothing but good — " worketh no ill to his neighbor." 
The remedy is complete; the heart of love governs 
the tongue. "A good man, out of the good treasure 
of his heart bringeth forth that which is good." The 
unruly member is redeemed from sin and hell, and is 
now turned to high offices of peace on earth, good 
will to men; and is waiting to mingle, with flaming 
tongues above, in everlasting songs of praise " to 
him that hath loved us, and given himself for us." 



118 



SERMONS. 



IX. 

MISSIONS.* 

" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every crea- 
ture." — Mark xvi, 15. 

This command and commission was intended to 
last till the Gospel triumphed in all climes and king- 
doms of the earth. Next to our own salvation and 
sonship, preaching the Gospel is the highest office 
and honor that can be conferred on man — not 'except- 
ing the old prophets or the high priesthood of the 
Jews. Indeed, the advent angels did nothing greater 
than to declare the name of Jesus. All vicegerents, — 
nuncios, or envoys — all ceremonies, or holy altars, 
fall far short of the preaching of the everlasting 
Gospel. It was one of the royal offices, and not the 
least, of Christ himself. It is nothing less than the 
delegated voice of God to man — heaven's best news 
to a lost world. 

Humanity has been blessed and elevated in exact 
proportion as the Gospel has been faithfully preached. 

^Annual Missionary Sermon for 1860, preached before the 
Ohio Conference, and first published by resolution of the 
Conference. 



MISSIONS. 



119 



The first preachers preached with great simplicity 
and boldness ; sometimes even without the formalities 
of singing and prayer. They had such confidence in 
the divinity of their call, and such reliance on the 
living truths they uttered being directly from God, 
that they never seemed to stop long enough to 
count second causes, but hastened on from place 
to place, eager to make known the glad tidings of 
great joy. Arts, or excellency of speech, were not 
necessary. 

The first declension in the Church, after the day 
of Pentecost, when so many were converted, was 
because other things were substituted for the pure 
Word of God. Relics, pictures, ceremonies, and al- 
tars, took the place of preaching. 

Our Lord could have written the Gospel on the 
expanded sky — made tongues of lightning paint it, 
and the voice of the thunder utter it. He could have 
sent it out through all the world on flaming tongues ; 
angel heralds would have rejoiced to bear such a 
message ; but it pleased him to commit it to faithful 
men — men who could feel its power in their own 
hearts, while they preached it to others. And to the 
faithful performance of this mission he awards the 
thrones of heaven, and crowns of everlasting life. 
" They that turn many to righteousness" — whether 
courtly bishops or unconsecrated disciples — " shall 
shine as the stars, forever and ever." Well might 
Paul thank God for putting him into the ministry, 
and reckon that the sufferings of this present time 



120 



SERMONS. 



are not worthy to be compared with the glory which 
shall be revealed in us. We notice, 

First. The indifference and presumption manifest 
on this subject. 

All Christians do desire the spread of the Gospel, 
but for some cause, many vague and presump- 
tuous notions have sprung up, and the Scripture way 
is lost sight of. Many seem to think that some great 
new covenant or dispensation is about to appear, and 
then the heathen will be evangelized. The little horn 
spoken of by Daniel, is about to be broken; the Mo- 
hammedan Empire about to come to an end ; the battle 
of Gog and Magog about to be fought, or some other 
wonderful revolution to take place. And quotations 
are not wanting to prove these things ; like the au- 
thor of a recent pamphlet (Armageddon), taking 
the sound for the sense, any thing can be proven. 
Especially is this true where the stingy heart would 
feed the missionary on the wind, and be glad of any 
doctrine that would excuse it from duty. 

We do not claim to be thoroughly acquainted 
with prophecy, or to know any of the dark sayings 
of lost books ; but we would not give up the plain 
facts spoken by our Savior, for all the theories and 
visions of prophets, old and young, that ever lived, 
including Joseph Smith, Jemima Wilkinson, and 
Emanuel Swedenborg. Here is unmistakable author- 
ity from the head of the Church : " Go ye into all 
the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
Don't wait to be called, nested, and salaried. Christ's 



MISSIONS. 



121 



call is high enough, his pay is good enough, and his 
promise of being with us to the end of the world, is 
assurance enough. This presumptive spirit reminds 
us of a modern Jew, waiting round his useless altar, 
expecting the Messiah to come. We have neither 
Scripture nor reason for expecting any thing new to 
take place. There is no more reason for expecting 
some new covenant, than that we should expect an 
additional sun in the heavens. 

How could any thing surpass the present glorious 
plan? Can any thing be greater than the power that 
attends the preaching of the Gospel? It is now 
preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, 
and every soul that embraces it is filled with the 
power of God. Since Paul wrote that bold letter to 
Rome, in which he says, " The Gospel is the power 
of God to every one that believetb," nothing can sur- 
pass it, no new mode of receiving will ever be given. 
Can any honor be greater than to be a child of God? 
And will God substitute any thing for faith as the 
condition? Who will think of any favor from God, 
greater than to be made "partaker of the divine 
nature f 

We see not only presumption as to the means, 

but the work itself. It is thought by some that the 

heathen are about as well off as we are, and their 

chance of heaven as good as ours. Those persons 

seem to think that though we need the atonement, 

the heathen do not, as if we were to be saved one 

way, and they another. We are free to admit that 

ii 



122 



SERMONS. 



with our superior light we will have more to answer 
for than they. They are kept out of heaven because 
they are not fit to enter it ; they perish for want of 
holiness, rather than from their great degree of guilt. 
To consider them as harmless little children, is a great 
mistake ; for a considerable portion of the Old Testa- 
ment is taken up with accounts of the heathen, how 
God's terrible judgments fell on them, and how their 
idolatry was visited with his continued displeasure. 
The Scriptures speak out against all the great ancient 
wicked pagan nations and cities, from Nineveh to 
Tyre, in terms not to be mistaken. If "they were as 
well off as Christians, our text would be useless and 
without meaning ; and if any argument could be set 
up to support such a notion, it would stand equally 
against religion itself. 

Second. The condition of the heathen world. 

The state of the heathen world is a picture of 
darkness and suffering, so full of horror, and so vast 
in its extent, that the mind can not fully take it in. 
They are numbered by millions. To say there are 
six hundred millions of pagans, is easy; but to com- 
prehend the extent of this vast multitude, is quite 
another thing. The line of figures to denote their 
numbers is like those used to denote the distances in 
astronomy. 

Let it be remembered that in nearly all pagan 
lands, woman is a slave. Now, to take this one dread- 
ful feature alone. Suppose every inhabitant of the Uni- 
ted States be counted, and suppose every individual 



MISSIONS. 



123 



in all our great cities, and wide-spread country, 
was a female : call the sum thirty millions, and you 
have only counted a small part of the number that it 
takes to make the vast multitude of female slaves in 
lands where there is no Gospel. But take another 
comparison. Write down ten hundred thousand; 
write it again, and again, till you have written it 
thirty times; then multiply that by seven, and still 
you fall short of that vast suffering multitude of fe- 
male slaves (mostly white), that now live on this 
earth, and go with us, as we go round the sun, though 
we see them not with our eyes. And where woman 
is a slave, man is not much better. I need not speak 
of the children. Nearly all pagan countries are in- 
fested with robbers, which take away all security for 
life or property. In such a state, life must be only 
a continuance of agonizing fear. In pagan lands the 
inhabitants are nearly all exposed to the inclemency 
of the weather, and the aged and infirm, and also little 
children, must suffer greatly. In sickness they have 
none of the kindness, and attention, and medical aid, 
that we have ; the sick are often treated with the 
most cruel tortures, being under suspicion as to evil 
spirits. This is not only inflicted by each other, but 
self-torture is very common. Offended deities are to 
be appeased, sometimes at the expense of life. The 
poor have no friends, asylums are never seen in those 
dark places of cruelty. One of the most astonishing 
things to the mind of the poor Makololo was, that so 
great a man as Dr. Livingstone, with his superior 



124 



SERMONS. 



knowledge and exalted station, should notice and help 
a poor person, a young female, that was almost dead 
on the ground. In addition to bands of robbers that 
plunder, as by a trade, those countries have such poor, 
weak governments, that frequent wars break out — 
tribe with tribe. Not such wars as take place among 
civilized people, but where the most cruel tortures are 
practiced— even slow tortures, wreaking vengeance 
from dark hearts, that never knew what affection is. 
The mournful story of their long continued sufferings 
might be continued, but I forbear the sickening sight. 

I am now ready to ask the great question, the 
greatest ever proposed since the world was : Can this 
long, dark night, that has hung in horror on our race, 
be broken ? 

Third. The Gospel is the only remedy. 
In this we are not left to untried experiment or 
cold conjecture. It is no more a question than 
whether to-morrow's sun will dissolve the night and 
light up the face of the earth. I appeal to all his- 
tory, ancient and modern, sacred and profane, if the 
well-being of a people is not in exact proportion to 
their knowledge of the true God? Mohammedanism 
is better than paganism. The Greek Church has 
still more of the doctrines of the Bible, and is better 
than Mohammedanism. The Eoman Catholic is per- 
haps still better than the Greek ; the Coptic still bet- 
ter; the Armenian better than the Coptic, and the 
Protestant still better than all. Even among Prot- 
estant denominations the same rule holds good. Those 



MISSIONS. 



125 



denominations that make the Bible prominent, and 
preach the word to the people in the most direct 
manner, elevate the people most. The name Chris- 
tian has been greatly abused. The word Christendom 
is very indefinite, as it is used to denote all Christian 
lands; when, in fact, many portions of the earth, 
where they come under this name, are as far from 
true Christianity as a Polar shore from Summer 
life; which, though it sees the sun, the same that 
makes the tropics shine, yet is bound up in immov- 
able ice, where not one wave of liquid water ever 
strikes a note of music on its dismal shores. How 
vague must be the ideas of true Christianity in the 
mind of a miserable Copt, or an ignorant Armenian, 
or a selfish, ceremonial Greek. When we see these 
people in their half pagan state, and think of the mis- 
erable caricature of religion that they see, we are 
stirred in heart, and hope to see the day when the 
golden candlestick of our holy religion shall be .set 
among them. How it would change the region and 
shadow of death ! how it would light up the camps of 
sin and death, and make their hideous deformities 
waste away like the speechless gods of Greece and 
Rome before the oracles of the living God ! Like the 
torch in one of the Grecian races called Lampadephoria, 
one carried it to another, and he to the next, till it 
went the round. So our foreign missionaries, with 
the lamp of life, are going, and peaceful and bloodless 
conquests will continue to go on, till "the desert shall 
blossom as the rose," till they shall " beat their 



126 



SERMONS. 



swords into plowshares, and their spears into prim- 
ing-hooks." 

Much has been said about the African slave-trade. 
The great nations of the earth have condemned it, and 
declared it piracy. England's mighty navy has 
thundered against it for rnany years. The United 
States and France have done much against it; but 
still we often hear of the horrors of the " middle pass- 
age." But, suppose England had kept her costly 
war-ships at home, and for every cannon sent a box 
of Bibles, and for every captain of a man-of-war a 
missionary. By this time the hands of Ethiopia's 
children would have held the keys of knowledge and 
power, and, instead of selling one another, they would 
be trafficking in cotton and coffee, sugar and tea. 
They that sit in darkness would have seen a great 
light. Civilization, the eldest offspring of the Gospel, 
would have her seat there; and from the Niger to the 
Nile, and from Cape Verde to Guardafui, they would 
have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This 
is no Utopian picture ; for we have only to point to 
the mission stations on that coast for proof positive 
of our position. InTo dark slaver ever lands near those 
mental and moral light-houses. They would no more 
think of slave-hunting near a mission station, than a 
Bengal tiger would leave his cave and jungle at noon- 
day to attack a man-of-war at the sea-shore. But, 
let no one mistake us here. We ask no civil govern- 
ment for help. Nor do we blame England for trying 
to suppress the foreign slave-trade by force. We are 



MISSIONS. 



127 



only shoeing that the Gospel is stronger than gun- 
powder, and more transforming than the most expen- 
sive military or naval expeditions. To the honor of 
England be it remembered she did offer to send 
teachers and preachers, and implements of civilization, 
to a native chief; but the old barbarian refused, and 
replied that if his people were to get knowledge, 
he could not rule them, and his traffic would be 
broken up. 

But we need not go beyond the ocean for proof 
of the elevating power of the Gospel. Our own coun- 
try, which by foreigners has been called an experi- 
ment, and is an experiment, the greatest and grandest 
ever entered upon among the nations of the earth — 
nothing in the days of Deucalion, Remus, or Rom- 
ulus, will compare with it. It will not be long till she 
will stand among the nations as one of those giant 
Sequoias in the valley of Mariposa, lifting its lofty 
trunk, and waving its evergreen branches far above 
the surrounding forest. 

Seeing this vast nation outstripping all others in 
growth and prosperity, we very naturally inquire if 
there was any thing peculiar in its early history or 
development? This is answered by the fact on the 
journals of the first Congress in 1777, when we find 
that twenty thousand Bibles were purchased, and cir- 
culated among the people. The journals also show 
that at a still later period, 1781, when, on account of 
the war, no English Bible could be imported, Con- 
gress aided Mr. Aitken in publishing one. Thus, 



128 



SERMONS. 



we see that the young Republic, without establishing 
any form of religion, gave its aid to the spread of 
the Gospel, leaving the people free to establish such 
forms of worship as they pleased. If any doubt 
should arise as to the influence, let this country be 
compared with South America, Mexico, California, 
and Florida. Those were settled more than fifty 
years before the Atlantic States, and under more fa- 
vorable circumstances. They had a more genial 
climate. But, why have those countries remained in 
poverty and ignorance — scarcely any better than the 
savage Aborigines ? Why did the inviting shores of 
California remain without science or city for more 
than two hundred years, while, with far less natural 
advantages, the Northern and Atlantic States and 
cities were growing in wealth and power, and all that 
makes a nation truly great. Why was it that as soon 
as the people from the States began to settle there, 
this long night of ignorance and weakness began to 
give way ? Gold, that had slept in silence and 
seemed to be waiting for a more enterprising people, 
now began to come forth, and ships, greater and swifter 
than those Solomon sent to Ophir, coasted along her 
shores. The answer to all these questions is easy. 
Those first settlers were Roman Catholics, and it is 
well known that they circulate no Bibles among the 
people at home or abroad. Their system is not fa- 
vorable for educating the people. It may be set 
down as a rule that in proportion as the Bible is 
circulated in any country, general prosperity ensues; 



MISSIONS. 



129 



and it is an undeniable fact, that wherever Protestant 
missionaries make a station, and have success, the 
people are blessed temporally and spiritually. This 
rule will hold good in any country or clime in the 
world, no matter how degraded a people are, or how 
many ages of darkness have bound them. Though 
they may have been as the wheat grain wrapped in 
the foldings of an Egyptian mummy, yet, as soon as 
the Word of God takes effect, the soul begins to show 
life_feeble at first, but, like the grain of wheat, the 
little green acrospire pushes its way up through the 
dark earth, and then shoots up in beauty to bloom 
and bear. 

These facts are better than all theories. They 
are arguments that never can be met by infidels, ra- 
tionalists or neologists, and are interwoven with the 
history of nations, and make a part of the rapid 
progress of the present age. Could we go out on 
the breadth of the earth this day, and see, at a glance, 
all the nations as they sit in darkness or walk in the 
light, we would only see these principles verified ; for, 
be it known, that in this nineteenth century more than 
half the human race lives in mud-huts. 

Fourth. Fault-finding and questions raised against 
31issions. 

Not often do we find any one in this land bold 
enough to attack the missionary cause; but some- 
times it is done in a peculiar way, not seeming to be 
an attack, but even having the appearance of a plea 
for a certain class of the poor. We allude to certain 



130 



SERMONS. 



articles that appear occasionally in the newspapers, 
the substance of which is, that while we are sendino- 
men and money abroad, the heathen are perishing at 
home. Eight under the church-spire, say they, is the 
worst kind of want, while the Church takes no note 
of it, but sends its means to foreign lands. 

On this seeming practicable benevolence, some 
writers have made quite a show of reason, and some- 
times have had readers quite as ignorant as them- 
selves. But what are the facts. Are the Churches 
so stupid as to send men across the ocean to do what 
could as well be done at home ? Who are the best 
judges of these matters ? Those blind hypocritical 
scoffers, who give nothing to the poor at home or 
abroad, who know nothing and care nothing about 
these things ? Perhaps the words give nothing, is 
too strong for a case that did once occur in a certain 
town, where a company of these infidels had a supper 
and ball, and finding a quantity of provisions left de- 
cided to give it to the poor. But when the inquiry 
was made, as to where the poor lived, or who they 
were, no one could tell. They had to go to a member 
of the Church to find out who the poor were, and 
where they lived. And even this little gift was not 
from any love for the poor, but because the articles 
were left, and the poor might be found about as easy 
as the dogs. This case illustrates the whole matter. 
Such persons are ignorant of the facts. They are not 
aware that the friends of missions do more for the 
home poor than any other class do, nor do they know 



MISSIONS. 



131 



that a large amount of missionary money is expended 
for home missions. They seem to think that the poor 
ought to be taken, as we take a field of wheat, seria- 
tim. They ought to know that Christians are as apt 
to perceive advantages as other people. The sun 
does not bring out all the flowers according to the 
latitude they grow in. Moreover, there are some 
things those men never think of. For instance, when 
we send missionaries to distant lands, they establish 
great centers, from which go out knowledge and light 
for a nation. Our mission in Buenos Ayres is giving 
character to Protestant Christianity throughout all 
South America ; and the mission in Foochow is do- 
ins the same for China. In the last treaty with the 
United States, unusual liberties were granted Chris- 
tians, in allowing them to travel and preach through- 
out the empire, thus opening the way for the Gospel 
to millions. As to the proper distribution of mission- 
ary money, so far as the Methodist Episcopal Church 
is concerned, we have advantages over every mission- 
ary society in the world. We refer to the men that 
compose the Board of Managers. In this Board of 
sixty one, we have the whole board of bishops, who 
are about the greatest travelers in any country. And 
then this whole country is districted into seven dis- 
tricts, and a delegate goes up from each ; which re- 
minds us of John's vision of the opening seals and of 
the seven eyes "which are the seven Spirits of God 
sent forth into all the earth.'" 

After hearing men speak against the Bible, and 



132 



SERMONS. 



Churches, preachers and missions, denouncing all in 
the oft-repeated language of infidels, bigotry, super- 
stition, narrow-mindedness, etc., is it not strange that 
such people do n't select a country where none of 
these fetters to freethinking could be found; where 
the untrammeled mind could bask in the unrefracted 
rays of nature's own light and heat? The Pilgrims 
came to this country to enjoy more liberty. Thou- 
sands are coming here every year, because they can 
have more liberties and live easier. But when did 
ONE infidel ever leave a Christian land to escape 
these grievances, and make an unchristian land his 
home, that he might have a better country for him- 
self and his children ? Can these men be consistent, 
not to say honest, who thus talk, and yet never act 
accordingly ? We certainly have no delight in human 
suffering of any kind, but when we see men in this 
heaven-favored, Christian land, with the numerous 
luxuries of life, and many excellencies that come 
solely because it is a Christian land, we have a silent 
wish that all such parasites might for a short time 
taste the fruits of their own doctrine. It would be a 
fine illustration to take one of our " fast young men," 
in all the heat of youthful pride and honor, as he 
drives furiously through the city, and seems to dis- 
dain the very name of Christian, and feels under no 
more obligation to it for his wealth, or well-being, 
than the haughty Zedekiah cared for the weeping 
prophet, J eremiah, who told him his end. Suppose 
such a man was 'stripped of all that Christianity 



MISSIONS. 



133 



helped him to, either directly or indirectly, and the 
process was so gradual that he could not see it. 
Begin with his greatest idol, his finely and fashiona- 
bly 5 dressed person. Exchange his elegant garments 
for a blanket or a bear-skin; for his gold watch, give 
him a string of beads or a pair of brass ear-rings. 
Instead of his fast drives, with blooded steeds, ele- 
gant carriage and equipments, send him into the un- 
broken forest, with his brother pagans, to travel, 
single-file, where the scream of a steam-whistle, or 
thunder of a railroad train, never wakes the dismal 
solitudes of nature's old domains. Instead of a fath- 
er's elegant residence, with costly furniture, introduce 
him to his more appropriate lodging— a wigwam— 
where he may lounge round his central fire, with 
scarcely clothes enough to cover his heathen carcass. 
In short, take away all that is peculiar to the inhab- 
itants of a civilized and Christian land, and then let 
him stand on his own dignity, if he can find any. 
This is a fair statement, and these facts are as true to 
life as that effect follows cause, or that schools make 
scholars. 

Another complaint is, A WANT OF SUCCESS. If 
the Gospel is of God, why so long before it is re- 
ceived throughout the earth? But this is like the 
one before referred to, founded in ignorance of the 
facts, and that so far from a failure, the missionaries 
have accomplished wonders. The lost and ignorant 
state of the world must be considered. The change 
is not merely or mainly a reform, but a translation 



134 



SERMONS. 



from darkness to light— from a state only a little 
above brutes,— to civilization and religion. It is a 
greater work than superficial observers imagine. To 
show how slowly the world moves in the direction of 
knowledge, take one of our modern inventions, say a 
railroad, so simple that a child can comprehend" it, 
and so useful that we wonder how the ancients could 
do without it; and yet, such has been man's dull- 
ness, that the whole forenoon of time up to a recent 
date, passed away before it was found out, 

Our race are not equally impressible with good or 
_ evil, as may be shown by facts in history. Whoever 
'has even glanced at the history of our fallen race, 
must see that it is a history of monstrous wickedness, 
with very little good. Ancient history might be 
called a history of blood; modern history is no bet- 
ter, though changed in form. Considering then the 
active proclivity to evil, we have no grounds to com- 
plain of the fruits of what little effort has been made. 

We say little effort, for it is comparatively little. 
No other enterprise, of half the magnitude, would be 
entertained as at all practical, with so little support. 
To prove this, we have only to compare it with oth- 
ers—some good, some bad. The State of Ohio alone 
appropriates about as much to educate the children at 
home as all Christians in the United States give for 
missions abroad. The Japan expedition, under Com- 
modore Perry, cost more than to sustain a mission and 
school there for twenty years. The Governor-General 
of India, a few years ago, cost the company more than 



MISSIONS. 



135 



all the missionaries and mission teachers then in that 
country (159). His salary was sixty-nine thousand 
pounds. One good war vessel costs more than nine 
hundred thousand Methodists give for foreign mis- 
sions annually. And, to conclude these comparisons, 
I must say, that our tobacco costs far more than mis- 
sions. I mean Methodist tobacco, bought with Meth- 
odist money, and carried about in Methodist pockets, 
and chewed and smoked by Methodist mouths. Our 
missionary reports never can boast of what we have 
done while we pay less to spread the Gospel than 
tobacco smoke. 

As to the complaint of a want of success, we hold 
to just the contrary opinion, and conclude that noth- 
ing is more successful, in proportion to the effort put 
forth. Upon examination it is found, that for every 
thirteen dollars and A half expended in the 
cause, a soul has been brought into the Church. This 
calculation runs back to the commencement of our 
missions. Let all our people, then, remember that 
for every thirteen dollars and a half they needlessly 
use, they have wasted that much of the Lord's money, 
and that it might have been instrumental in the con- 
version of an immortal soul that would live to sing, 
and shout, and shine, long after the sun and moon are 
gone. Nothing is carried on so cheap as missions ; 
bare subsistence seems to be the standard. Foreign 
missionaries are generally men that are liberally ed- 
ucated, and that would take a high place among 
men at home, but are willing to go abroad on the 



136 



SERMONS. 



smallest salary of any class of men. To mention one 
case : That indefatigable traveler and explorer, Dr. 
Livingstone, who might have been president of a 
bank, or a college at home, what was his yearly al- 
lowance? Just $500!* 

Missionaries are not only paid at the lowest rate, 
but every thing connected with the Society is done 
in the same way. Here again I may be allowed to 
mention an advantage we have over every other 
Church. The annual reports will show that only 
-two per cent is required to collect and disburse the 
funds. The Government of the United States is 
certainly one of the best, yet it takes about half the 
money collected to p^y the men that handle it, in 
order to get it to the object intended, and these men 
are under oath too. In the "American Board" it 
takes four per cent; in the American Tract Society 
it takes seventeen per cent ; in the American Bible 
Society it takes twenty-six per cent; in the Ameri- 
can Sunday- school Union it takes twenty-nine per 
cent. Nothing in these statements is intended to 
intimate that those excellent Societies are dishonest 
or even extravagant. They are managed by the best 
of men, and well managed, but they lack the per- 
fect system of Agencies that we have. Every trav- 
eling preacher is an unpaid agent, and this is a part 
of his work. The secretaries, and the expenses of 
printing, are about all that we have to pay for. 

^During his last trip lie received something from the British 
Government in view of geographical discoveries. 



MISSIONS. 



137 



I would not mention these comparisons at all, 
but I desire to show how directly our money goes 
to the proper object, that we may give more liber- 
ally. This simple, yet efficient system, reminds us 
of the story of Romulus, throwing a spear from 
Mount Aventine to the steps of the Fair Shore, 
where it plunged so deep in the earth that no one 
could pull it out, and where the handle of cornel 
wood grew into a great and renowned tree. But 
how truly we can throw the Sword of the Spirit 
across the ocean, or to the steps of the Rocky 
Mountains, and with what little effort or expense, 
and how truly it will grow into a great tree ! 

But the old objection comes up, " So MANY 
CALLS." It is a remarkable fact, known and well 
known to nearly all pastors, that this objection 
comes from a class of persons that are not remark- 
able for giving to any call. The plain duty is to 
give as God has prospered us. 

In selecting the object to give to, I present the 
missionary cause as one of the very first importance. 
In a sermon before the English Parliament, in the 
reio-n of Charles I — more than two hundred years 
a o- — Rev. John Owen said, u no man in the ivorld 
ivants help like those who want the Gospel" It must 
be a loud call that makes a stronger appeal than 
this. And a Christian whose conscience is enlight- 
ened, and whose judgment is not warped by self-in- 
dulgence, will hardly fail to give most to those most 
in want. 

12 



138 



SERMONS. 



It is a great mistake to suppose that the Mis- 
sionary Collection will injure any other collection, 
or that any one will give all to this. It is eighteen 
hundred years since that was done, or that we have 
an instance of any person giving all— the poor 
widow did. We more frequently find persons that 
give nothing to any; and these too almost imitate 
Ananias and his lying wife, saying, "So many calls." 
Yerily if it was wicked for them, who did give, and 
gave abundantly, what must be the wickedness of 
some now, who indirectly tell the same kind of a 
falsehood and give nothing? Truly God is merci- 
ful and long suffering, for these stingy souls, with 
their hands full of wealth, are luxuriating in bless- 
ings that came because we are in a Christian land, 
and yet give nothing to send these blessings abroad. 
If a man will withhold from the poor, let him beware 
how he adds deception to it — "So many calls'' — and 
gives nothing to any. I am sure that many have taken 
shelter here for their penuriousness, not thinking the 
nature of such an offense. When an oak becomes 
the negative pole to an awful descending thunder 
cloud, a sinner is about as safe under its branches, 
as the man that pretends to be giving when he is 
not. Destruction in the one case might be more 
sudden than the other, but not more sure or terrible. 
Ananias and Sapphira were not killed for covetous- 
ness but for lying. 

Several years' observation convince us that to take 
a good Missionary collection, other good causes will 



MISSIONS. 



139 



not suffer, and those preachers who attend to this, 
generally have the best reports on others, and suc- 
ceed best in getting their own support. 

A member of the Church, with all these facts be- 
fore him, and with a pastor that would neglect to 
attend to this most important duty, would be justi- 
fied in withholding his temporal support. I would 
no more support such a minister than bear the burden 
of Simony, or pay tax to the son of Bosor. 

Fifth. Inducements to support Missions. 

The first great inducement is the clear command 
of our Savior, found in our text and elsewhere in the 
Scriptures. For this great object he suffered as 
never man suffered, and died as never man died, and 
in furtherance of this most glorious work and doc- 
trine, " spake as never man spake." To those who 
do, and teach these doctrines, human greatness is 
promised, which only could be promised by the Al- 
mighty God of grace and glory, "Great in the 
kingdom of heaven." Jesus said it. Who believes 
it, believes firm enough to go to work. But we will 
begin by noticing some of the least inducements first. 
As the Gospel goes out, so goes the key of knowl- 
edge and wealth to man, as we have already proved. 
Private companies, and sometimes governments, send 
out exploring expeditions to increase knowledge and 
open up new fields of discovery and enterprise. But 
it must be acknowledged that missionaries have been 
the greatest explorers in the world, and have done 
more to enrich the various departments of history 



140 



SERMONS. 



and geography, and indeed almost every depart- 
ment of knowledge lias had valuable contributions 
from them. 

In a commercial point of view they have seldom 
or never been appreciated. They open up vast re- 
gions of country for commerce and agriculture. They 
give the natives a grand notion of Christian civiliza- 
tion. When natives first became acquainted with 
traders from our land, they generally learn more evil 
than good, and get most unfavorable notions of Chris- 
tianity. It is said that on a certain island, where 
traders had dealt with the natives, furnishing them 
whisky and other useless articles, and taking advan- 
tage of their ignorance in various ways, that said 
islanders found out that their religion was called 
Christian; whereupon, when they would name a mean 
dog, they would call him Christian. This was all 
very natural, and shows how important first impres- 
sions are, and how necessary that missionaries be the 
first men on heathen ground. 

The British government has seen the importance 
of these things, and now Dr. Livingstone, above re- 
ferred to, is employed by the government. During a 
certain discussion in the British Parliament, where 
the civilization of India was up, a member of Parlia- 
ment said, That if speedy civilization was desired, and 
past history was of any force, they would do well to 
send a large number of Bibles and missionaries and 
teachers there. 

Another advantage of missions consists in the 



MISSIONS. 



141 



practical working out of Bible principles. It is a 
standing argument for the truth and divinity of Reve- 
lation. The fruits of missions stand up in the face 
of the whole world, and defy argument or opposition. 
However much some may complain about missions, 
and whatever may be said about doing good to the 
poor, it will take the heart of a misanthrope, or a devil, 
to object to the fruits. Indeed, this eager and hasty 
world is more easily attracted by practical results 
than positive teaching, however true. Didactic theol- 
ogy and hortatory teaching are well enough ; but have 
we not relied too much on these means for the con- 
version of the world ? We verily believe that the 
good fruits of missions do more than is generally es- 
timated in giving character to our religion and gaining 
respect for doctrines that lead to such results. They 
are more convincing to the masses of the people than 
Paley, Watson, Butler, or Beattie. Not many of the 
hasty multitude will stop to read those works, but the 
practical results of the Gospel will be entertained in 
their minds without an effort. There is no way by 
which we would prefer to have our religion judged 
except this ; and all honest observers must agree that 
this is the fair way. 

From the day it went forth from Jerusalem, di- 
vine authority and attestation marks its course. Truly 
did the old prophet Isaiah see this cresset afar, shin- 
ing out on time's long dark night. How graphically 
he drew the picture of its grandeur, and uttered its 
description seven hundred years before God said the 



142 



SERMONS. 



second time, " Let there be light." il The people that 
walked in darkness have seen a great light ; they that 
dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them 
hath the light shined." If any light has ever ema- 
nated from Aristotle, Plato, or Confucius, it is bor- 
rowed, and is but feeble and fitful ; and is to this, as 
the cold glimmer of a Winter star to the noontide 
glories of the monarch of day. The happy children 
of the Gospel are not afraid that a succeeding age 
will so gather knowledge as to uncover the nakedness 
of their system, and laugh at its deformities. 

This has often been the history of other religions ; 
and that which was worse, condemn and refute, but 
with not light enough to substitute any thing better. 
This ever-changing state of the nations filled the world 
with gods, and the heart with lies. A great question 
comes up here — one that infidels have tried to keep 
down, and when it would unbidden come, tried to ex- 
cuse, and plead circumstances, rather than meet the 
issue. The question is this : Has the world of itself, 
without revelation, any recuperative element, or self- 
improvement, sufficient to carry it to the highest state 
of earthly happiness? The answer is a melancholy 
fact in history, it never has. Though on trial for more 
than six thousand years, under every variation of cir- 
cumstance, yet the best that can be said of the best 
portions, and that for a brief space of time is, that 
they were " splendid barbarisms." It has not ad- 
vanced one step ; how can it, when natural depravity, 
in one unbroken chain from father to son, has never 



MISSIONS. 143 

been slackened, "their foolish hearts are darkened." 
"Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools, 
and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into 
an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds 
and four-footed beasts and creeping things.' 7 

Paul's terrible description in the first chapter of 
Komans is not too strong; it suited then, and it suits 
now. Not one ray of light ever disturbs the gloomy 
night of ages ; the thoughts of its iron sway and 
deadly influence is horrifying to any that will let 
themselves think of it. We are at a loss for a figure 
to picture a darkness so deep, a suffering so unre- 
mitting. The subterraneous caverns of the earth are 
sometimes explored, and their darkness dispelled, and 
their silence broken, but this awful graveyard, this 
rayless depth of darkness, this never-ceasing tide of 
human suffering, fed by on-coming millions ; on, on 
it sweeps — while I speak they suffer as they have 
been and will be, and know no more of a remedy 
than the rich man that Avails beyond the fixed gulf. 
I will not dwell on this sad picture ; it is as real as 
that this globe is inhabited, and outside of Bible in- 
fluence, quite as universal. We know it as well as 
we know any thing. How can a Christian look on 
this fearful subject and do nothing, or nearly noth- 
ing ? Verily it is no time to buy land for speculation, 
or luxuriate ourselves on the results of Christianity, 
while we deny its blessings to the heathen. Can our 
Lord continue his blessings if we thus shut up all 
compassion from those he loves, and for whom he 



144 



SERMONS. 



gave himself. If he can, we clo n't understand his 
word, especially Matthew xxv, 45 : " Verily I say 
unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the 
least of these, ye did it not to me," etc. Then fol- 
lows the most fearful judgments ever pronounced 
against a guilty race. 

If we could not reach their wants the case would 
be very different ; but we can, and we are as sure of 
this as that bread will satisfy the hungry. I fear 
that we are too selfish: too much like the high- crested 
captain, Naaman, who would do some great thing, or 
not do at all. How different the poor woman that 
gave the two mites. In God's estimation, what a 
queenly donation it was ! And that noble woman of 
Bethany, who, also, obtained a name, and everlast- 
ing honor, from the lips of Christ himself. In one 
brief and beautiful sentence, he made her name to 
be in everlasting remembrance, " She did what she 
could !" 

The responsibility of the preachers is very great. 
They have the facts; they know the state of the 
heathen; they know it better than the members of 
the Church, for they read more and have some oppor- 
tunities that they do not. If they neglect to present 
this cause, and present it earnestly, their guilt must 
be great, for in God's Providence they are the stew- 
ards to attend to this work. We know the people of 
this land. We know very well that all that is neces- 
sary is to let them have the facts. Our people 
do n't give because the preacher tells them to, nor 



MISSIONS. 



145 



because they think to escape the fires of purgatory. 
They want a reason. They have a right to judge of 
the fitness of the object. Covetous as some of them are, 
yet, if the real state of the suffering of the heathen 
was fairly and forcibly brought before them, they 
w T ould respond to it. The best missionary sermon is 
the one that presents the most facts ; lays open the 
naked truth, and gives the real condition of the 
heathen. No exhortation or expostulation is neces- 
sary ; no shaming their past neglect or present stingi- 
ness, and no art or earnest entreaty is needed. Give 
the naked history of people with no Gospel, and it 
will be no more necessary to sadden the picture than 
to add gloominess to the face of a corpse, or increase 
the paleness on the cold face of death. It seems to 
me that the pastor of a Church that neglects this 
plain duty, is as if he intercepts the cry of the poor, 
and is as guilty as " he that maketh the blind to 
wander," or he that " perverteth the judgment of the 
stranger, fatherless, and widow." How can such a 
man pray to the God of the poor for himself? And 
if he does pray, how much weight is in it? We have 
no hesitancy in saying that to relieve suffering hu- 
manity, we perform the greatest acts that can be 
performed by man or angels. Doing good stands 
fully as high as praying ; and, if need be, for a time, 
the latter ought to give place to the former. If I 
was about to kneel in solemn devotion, and suddenly 
my eye caught a fellow-being in distress, in danger 
of life or limb, or even his house on fire, should I 



s 



146 



SERMONS. 



not first run to his relief? On this evident ground 
our Lord put a parenthetical exception into the moral 
law, and that not to relieve man but a dumb beast. 
I hope this remark "will not be so construed as to 
make me say that we must quit praying in order to 
relieve the poor ; I am only showing the paramount 
importance of doing good to the poor. Giving to 
missions is the most certain way to reach the poor. 
We have beggars in our own country, and they are 
frequently at our door; and if we could know that 
they were not drunkards, or impostors, we would sup- 
ply all their wants, and do it with great pleasure. 
But it is generally impossible to tell the needy from 
the deceitful, and if we take the risk, we find that in 
more than half the cases we were imposed upon, and 
were contributing to buy whisky instead of bread. 
No doubt but more than two- thirds of our beggars 
are unworthy of any help, and would really be better 
without it. And if cases of real want should arise, 
our excellent Christian country has provided public 
charities sufficient to supply their wants. Whoever, 
then, would be sure of reaching the poor, let him 
give to the missionary cause, especially Methodist 
Missions, where a large per cent Avill not leak out 
for agencies, and where no doubt can be entertained 
that it will go directly to benefit the souls and bodies 
of the poorest people on earth. 

There is a strong disposition in the human mind 
to be remembered. This is evident from what we 
see men do before they die. As they see the un- 



MISSIONS. 



147 



changeable fate of mortals certainly and swiftly ap- 
proaching, they begin to plan to leave a memorial. 
Then, if they have means, they may build a great 
house on some populous street, where their name 
may be seen engraved in stone, and be pronounced 
by the passing multitudes, for ages ; hence, the Astor 
House, Neil House, Girard College, etc. This same 
love of immortality is seen when we visit noted places 
like the Natural Bridge, in Virginia, or Niagara -Falls, 
where we see the stones all covered with names cut 
in to withstand every change ; and sometimes older 
names chiseled out to make room for the more recent 
lover of himself. All this shows that we desire to be 
remembered when we are gone, and the principle in 
itself is not wrong. But is there not a better way 
to be remembered, are there not more enduring rocks 
on which to write? Can we not erect monuments 
and memorials that will stand and be available when 
those of brick and stone have no more value ? Sup- 
pose a departed soul could look back to earth, through 
the thick curtain that hides one world from the other, 
what a contrast between those that built for eternity, 
and those that built for their own name ! Could the 
departed soul speak, it would say, there stands the 
cold, dead, speechless stones and brick w T alls that I 
built, and that made me feel rich and honorable; that 
took my precious time, wdiile I ought to have been 
preparing for this changeless state ; now I am poorer 
than my hod-carrier was then. I toiled hard, and 
laid up treasure on earth. I thought I was rich and 



148 



SERMONS. 



in want of nothing ; but, alas ! now it is continued 
want and poverty and unavoidable regrets. I grat- 
ified my ambition, and laid up for temporal life. My 
attention was all taken up with things that perish. 
Now I have long, long eternity before me, and though 
provision was made that I might be rich and honora- 
ble, and in want of nothing, yet, I trifled away my 
time, took no advice, built on the sand, and here the 
night has come and no man can work. There is no 
device nor work in the grave. 

But, how different with the man that studied the 
will of God and the welfare of mankind ! He, too, 
labored hard, but not to befool himself, and be left a 
pauper when houses and money and all that is valu- 
able on this lower world has no more value. Little 
did he know himself what foundations he was laying ; 
what enduring wealth he was laying up ; and, though 
working hard for others, he was almost unconsciously 
laying up for himself, getting " rich toward God." 
And then the ever-recurring joy of knowing that he 
has been instrumental in helping immortal souls from 
sin and suffering to peace and joy, and not only to es- 
cape this troublesome world, but to enter on the 
eternal round of greatness and glory, on and on, grow- 
ing in glory and grandeur ; when uncounted ages have 
lapsed away, still the living, happy spirit rises in 
power, and knowledge, and joy. This is the field of 
promise. Here a memorial can be set up that will 
stand through all time and chance and change ; that 
will stand where brick and stone and all the lumber 



MISSIONS. 



149 



of human glory are wasted in the devouring fires of 
the last day. Then the enduring monument, not built 
by mortal hands, nor standing in earth's changing 
sands, is based on the eternal foundation of promise 
and privilege, as fixed by God himself, out of the 
reach of human envy or frailty, above the glance of 
sin or reign of death. This glorified and eternified 
servant of God, unhurt by the second death, and in 
the day of judgment crowned, and sentenced to eternal 
life, passes far upward in mental and moral greatness, 
while ages on ages expand his powers and widen his 
glories. Then the full measure of that inimitable 
verse from Daniel will describe his state, and give 
title to his name : " They that be wise shall shine as 
the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn 
many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever." 



150 



SERMONS. 



X. 

THE STING OF DEATH. 

"The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the 
law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through 
our Lord Jesus Christ." — I Cor. xv, 56, 57. 

Death has been called the king of terrors, but if 
it were not for sin, death would have no terror at 
all. Sin is the most mysterious and terrible of all 
enemies. It is the fountain and first cause of all 
suffering. Death, hell, and the grave, with all the 
multifarious evils of men or fallen angels, come of 
sin a posteriori: no sin, no suffering; no sin, no death. 
" Sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so 
death passed upon all men." Sin is the transgres- 
sion of the law ; the law of God, and is terrible in 
its penalty. It is like coming in collision with the 
fixed law. of gravitation, or momentum or consuming 
fire : you will be crushed or burned, and you know it. 
And God is the author of both kinds of laws. 

The problem of evil will always stand at the 
head of all moral abstract questions. Great thinkers 
in all time past have been puzzled with it. The 
Bible descriptions of sin are terrible, but not any 
more so than. the natural consequences which we see 



THE STING OF DEATH. 



151 



in this world, as far as W€ can know. As to the 
origin, the Scriptures only describe the introduction 
and history, without unnecessary ethical reason- 
ing, which could be of no use to the reader. After 
having read many theories and treatises on the great 
problem of evil, we find the whole matter reduced to 
one single fact, and that is that it is the abuse of 
liberty. But this liberty is of a high intelligence; an 
accountability that has in its keeping, eternal well- 
being, or irreparable loss of all. 

Sin gives death the victory and brings man into 
bondage all his life. Death reigns where sin reigns ; 
and fear prevails where sin abounds. We are unwill- 
ing captives, and we try to hide our chains and seek 
out some way of escape. But sin is not to be 
avoided, or cured, or ignored by any contrivance, or 
cunning of man. The law of sin is inexorable. We 
are all under sin, and the whole world guilty before 
God. In our text it is called a sting ; denoting not 
only an instrument of torture, but of poison; it is 
also called by other horrible names: such as, "body 
of death," "horrible pit," and the like, with terrible 
descriptions of penalties and consequences. 

Not the least of sin's nature is the blinding, or 
deceiving influence it has on its subjects. When first 
committed, conscience speaks loud and sometimes 
lashes the sinner fearfully ; but though a second and 
third commission adds to the guilt of the sinner, yet 
not to conviction and knowledge of danger. A man 
may so repeat a sin till conscience ceases to speak at 



152 



SERMONS. 



all : sin hardens as well as blinds the heart. It also 
brings along with these things delusive beliefs : such 
as that God is too good to allow man to suffer; where- 
as the whole history of this grave-yard world is a 
mighty thundering voice of no, no, no. But such is 
sin's delusion that many believe they can escape the 
punishment. Sometimes this horrible night of men- 
tal darkness is broken into by sudden apprehension 
of danger or death. In some cases this sudden fore- 
boding of guilt is like lightning flashes, making 
night visible and shaking the soul in its house till 
the outcry for mercy is pitiful; but often like the 
sudden flash that dies away, so these piercing convic- 
tions go out as quick as they came, leaving the 
darkness deeper than ever. Sin never makes any 
alarm itself. These cutting, sawing convictions 
come of the Spirit of God acting on the surviving 
conscience. 

If the terrible sufferings that follow sin took 
place immediately, the soul would fly in horror from 
the first approach as from the face of a cobra or 
copperhead; and instead of embracing and kissing 
the deception, it would loathe and cry out as one 
who feels the cold, creeping, scaly folds of a serpent 
nestling and hissing in his bosom. Hence it is said 
in the Scriptures, "because sentence against an evil 
work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of 
the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." 
But why does not judgment speedily follow sin? Be- 
cause then there could be no trial of faith, no test 



THE STIXG OF DEATH. 



153 



of obedience, no regard, no "well done good and 
faithful servant,"' no religion at all, 

But notwithstanding the apparent safety and 
peace that follows the commission of sin, " the birth 
of my crimes is the death of my pleasure." "Who- 
ever has a rational, accountable soul, must have with 
it a possibility to rebellion against God, and a free 
chance for damnation. To deny this is to hold an 
absurdity ; that is, that a soul can be a free agent 
and yet not free do evil. To be free is to be at lib- 
erty to do good or evil. Freedom to good would be 
impossible without the freedom to evil. Probation 
is impossible without freedom. 

Many persons try to show that because God 
knows all things, therefore he will not permit evil to 
be in the next world : but why not in the next world 
as in this? But it will be said that death will re- 
move mortality and the infirmity of the flesh and re- 
fine man for the next world. But how can death, 
which is itself the result of sin and consequent upon 
sin, remove its own cause ? AYe often see how a 
thing is removed when the cause of it is removed; 
but never see how the stream can remove the fount- 
ain. Sin is the cause, suffering and death the 
effect. Temporal death can have no more effect on 
the moral state of the soul than passing through a 
gate can change the color of a man's hair. If sin 
died when the body dies the case would be different j 
for it is sin that gives death its sting. 

"Sin kills beyond the tomb." 



154 



SERMONS. 



As a positive proof that temporal death is not the 
penalty for sin, we notice that the righteous die as 
well as the wicked. And still another reason is, that 
we never find a dying man impressed that dying will 
be the end of his guilt and suffering. On the con- 
trary, as a rule, bad men are powerfully impressed 
that their misery will just begin. Ministers who are 
often called to see the sick, can testify to the terrible 
death-bed of the unconverted. Men who never pray, 
and treat the whole subject of religion with contempt, 
are often found to cry out in loud and bitter repent- 
ance. Stung to the heart with the keenest remorse, 
right in the face of their old doctrines, the terrors 
of judgment suddenly seize them, as if they were per- 
mitted to look through the slender curtain that hides 
this world from the next. 

I will mention an instance of this that came 
under my own observation. I once visited a man by 

the name of W , and, seeing that he could not 

live but a short time, I felt it my duty to tell him 
plainly the fact of approaching death, and that if he 
had any thing to attend to, he had but a few hours 
to spare. Whereupon, he threw up his hands in 
horror, and, with an earnestness that was perfectly 
frantic, exclaimed : " I can not die ; if I die, I will be 
lost! I know I will!" Though I was not then a 
praying man myself, I told him to pray. But he 
said he could not, for he never had, and he knew God 
would not hear him if he did, and kept repeating, "I 
am bst! I am lost!" He then writhed from side to 



THE STING OF DEATH. 



155 



side, and cursed the kind friends that were around his 
bed, tore the bed-clothes that covered him, and cursed 
me, and repeatedly and imploringly asked if I could 
do nothing for him, and using words of despair that 
I can not now remember. Thus, for a whole night, 
and part of a day, the poor soul writhed under the 
sting of death, and actually breathed his last amid a 
volley of oaths. But, who was this man ? What (lid 
he believe ? How did he live ? Was he a murderer 
or a thief? I answer, he was not a thief or murderer; 
he was a man of fair standing as a citizen. But he 
was an ardent believer in universal salvation, and that 
delusion was always uppermost in his mind whenever 
the subject of religion came up. But, now, in the 
time of need it failed to give any relief, and instead 
of approaching death giving hope of immortality and 
delivering the soul from infirmity, it was (as is com- 
mon in such cases) the reverse. 

Now, can any man believe that the conscience in 
these cases could so falsify the truth as to rouse the 
apprehensions like the tossing sea, and thunderstrike 
the soul with wild despair when that soul was about 
to enter into everlasting bliss ? This is the sting of 
death ; this is the spiritual death that separates the 
soul from God and hope. This agrees with the threat- 
enings of the Word of God. May the reader never 
venture out on this awful crater ground, where mercy 
takes her flight, and hope itself expires in frantic 
cries and groans, when the harvest is past, and the 
Summer is ended. 



156 



SERMONS. 



If it be inquired, How can sin be thus strong? we 
reply, that the strength of sin is the law. The "Thou 
shalt not" is like the pressure of the atmosphere, 
fifteen pounds to the square inch, or weight of 
the mountains, or the cohesive attraction of the atoms 
of a bar of steel, or the inexorable fate of him who 
contends with a thirty ton engine as it drives over the 
prostrate body of a puny mortal, and seems to say, 
as blood and bones crash before the ponderous wheels, 
" Thou shalt not be on the track when I come." 
As with the laws of nature, so with the laws of 
God; believing, or not believing, makes no differ- 
ence in the penalty. " The soul that sinneth, it 
shall die." 

After having considered the reign of darkness, 
and man's captivity to sin and death, we are now 
ready to raise the great question of a remedy. Or 
must this long night of death never be broken ? Must 
the monster king continue to hold court under this 
fiery law, giving sentence and execution, without op- 
posing advocate or intercessor? If a victory can be 
gained over this enemy of enemies, it will become 
the song of songs and the highest standing ground 
above all times and tides. 

On this most important subject we have the 
pleasure of declaring in the language of our text: 
"Thanks be to God ivhich giveth us the victory 
through our Lord Jesus Christ;" a victory above all 
victories, over an enemy that is called the "last 
enemy." It is a victory so complete as to open a 



THE STING OF DEATH. 



157 



new highway out from the captivity of Apollyon's 
reign, and that clears away all obstruction to an 
eternal return to liberty and good living, beyond the 
reach and above the power of sin and death, with seal 
and charter running on and holding good after all 
dates, and time itself is run out. This victory is 
radical and universal, coming out through all the 
weaknesses and infirmities of man. It includes all 
the benefits of the Calvary purchase, not only from 
the first wave of emotion in the new-born convert, 
but clear through the life-long warfare, giving victory 
over the world, the flesh, and the devil, including a 
death-bed triumph, and a resurrection to the upper 
kingdom, and a judgment sentence to the " ivell done, 
thou good and faithful servant" 

Here is the glory of our salvation, for we are to 
keep in mind that this victory is given to us through 
our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not won by long and 
hard fighting, with great loss and suffering on our 
part ; but he giveth us the victory. He " led cap- 
tivity captive." There is another sense in which we 
have some fighting ; but we overcome through the 
blood of the Lamb. This gives Christ the glory, and 
us the riches and power. This is the greatest elec- 
tion, the highest sphere, the most enduring honor 
that the human soul can possess; and though the 
full benefits are delayed till he is better prepared to 
enter upon them, yet he has the knowledge and 
hope of his full royal birth and inheritance. On this 
enduring hope we live, and by continued faith and 



158 



SERMONS. 



love the evidence is kept brightening, more and more, 
to the coronation day. 

Let us in the last place consider the heavenly in- 
habitants after the warfare is over. They are all 
victors — all conquerors, and more than conquerors — 
through him that loved us. All sing the same song — 
all are identified with the same gratitude. Here the 
mighty anthem of deathless song takes its rise and 
gets its strength; and will roll on in holy rapture, 
sounding through all heaven : " Unto him that loved 
us, and washed us in his own blood, be glory, domin- 
ion, praise, and power, for ever and ever. Amen." 



HEAVEN. 



159 



XI. 

HEAVEN. 

"In my father's house are many mansions; if it were not 
so I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you." — 
Johx xiv, 2. 

Heaven for the good, and hell for the bad, is a 
belief that, in some form or other, has prevailed from 
all the generation of past time. This doctrine of 
future existence, with rewards and punishments, is 
not only written in the Scriptures, but on our con- 
sciousness. 

The word heaven sometimes means the regions 
immediately above the earth, as when Ave say " the 
clouds of heaven.''' It sometimes means the higher, 
or astral regions, of the planets and stars, as when 
we say the " stars of heaven.'' But it also means 
the place prepared for the righteous — the great me- 
tropolis of the universe ; the third heaven ; the 
heaven of heavens ; the throne of God. It is this 
heaven of which we are now to speak. 

Surely every man that thinks at all must be in- 
terested in this subject; for, as we know, we must 
live somewhere, to all eternity, in conscious happi- 
ness or misery. We have already commenced the 



160 



SERMONS. 



life of eternity, so that there can be no greater 
question than where and how are we to live through 
all the on-coming ages, world without end. We are 
not left to conjecture as to what heaven will be. The 
evidence is of different kinds. There are also in- 
ferences almost as strong as direct testimony. 

First. We have a foretaste in experience of the 
manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, 
and have already passed from death unto life, and 
been made " partakers of the divine nature." And 
though not in heaven, we are on the way. Knowing 
what we do of the wisdom of God, and the fitness of 
things that are seen through all his works, we very 
naturally infer that he will prepare a place for his 
redeemed children; and as they are redeemed by his 
blood, and are the purchase of his own great sacri- 
fice — the pledged object of his love — look out for 
mansions and glory. Love lays the foundation, wis- 
dom carries up the walls, riches garnishes all with 
beauty and magnificence, and power sustains and 
perpetuates forever. 

Love is the most extravagant of all givers, and 
when sustained by ability, you may get ready for 
greatness. We have an illustration of this principle, 
if you can excuse the comparison between earthly 
marble and the heavenly jasper and jewelry of the 
four-square city. Perhaps the finest building now 
on earth is the Taj Mahal, of India, built by Shah, 
as a memento of love for his queen, Moomaj-i-Jehan 
Mahal. The work of twenty thousand men, for twenty 



HEAVEN. 



161 



years, at a cost of sixty millions of dollars. But, 
was this great Mogul any more affectionate than 
others? Not any more; but he happened to have 
the means to prepare a place fur one he loved. 
Every grass-grown grave, with its little oak head 
and foot-board, would have had a Taj or Kootub to 
keep in memory the loved one that was buried there, 
if the means could be obtained. 

Now when our Father gathers his children to- 
gether, to live forever with him, will he not prepare 
a place commensurate with his own riches and glory, 
and the wants and capacities of his loved ones? 
And when we consider that he owns all the precious 
stones, with power to create others more precious, 
and at his word all the materials of nature swnd 
forth and take their place, whether fiber or crystal, 
metal or mineral — form, color, beauty, and grandeur; 
compared to them the architecture of Austin de Bor- 
deaux, the "jewel-handed" builder of the Taj would 
be as the painter's little canvas to the expanse of the 
sky itself. 

If it should be said that we take too gross a view 
of the subject, as if heaven was a state rather than 
a place, we answer that the Scriptures warrant us in 
calling it a place, and tell us of mansions. How 
much finer the materials will be than any on earth, 
or that mortal eye hath ever seen, we know not ; but, 
as it was said by Bishop Heber, who visited the East, 
and saw the gorgeous palaces of India, that those 
Patans built like giants and finished like jewelers, 

14 



162 



SERMONS. 



what must we expect of the Creator of heaven and 
earth when he lays the foundation of the holy city, 
the heavenly Jerusalem, " prepared as a bride for her 
husband?" He by his Spirit hath "garnished the 
heavens." "\Ye see in what is said of heaven the 
perfect suitableness, and the negative and positive de- 
scriptions of all that heart could desire, or to which 
mind could aspire. 

First, negatively. It is to be a place where all evil 
is eternally shut out. "There shall in no wise enter 
into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever 
worketh abomination or maketh a lie." " They shall 
hunger no more, neither thirst any more." " There 
shall be no night there." There shall be no more 
death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there 
be any more pain." Then we shall be beyond the 
reach and realm of death and decay. The rage of 
wicked men and tempting devils are beyond the fixed 
gulf. The great, wide sea of human depravity is 
environed by the decrees of judgment — 

"Its tossing billows break and melt in foam, 
Far from my high and heavenly home." 

Let us consider, in the next place, what is said 
iwsitively ; and in this we can add but little more 
than the mighty words and figures we find in the 
Scriptures, for they exhaust all the strength of lan- 
guage, and leave the mind with a feeling like that of 
one who has suddenly come upon the half-concealed 
range of mighty m'ountains, where the mists of the 



HEAVEN. 



163 



morning has not yet floated away, but enough is seen 
to impress you with grandeur and strength, though 
the half had not been seen. And, as we mention 
these strong expressions, should. any one say these 
are but figures, we answer that they are true figures, 
and Scripture figures may come short of the fact, but 
never go beyond. God's Word never exaggerates. 

We select a few of these, to the victorious faith 
of the children of God who are on the highway : the 
old path that shines more and more unto the perfect 
day; hear them, ye that are now bearing the heat 
and burden of the day: Rivers; Trees; Fruit; Rest; 
Mansion; Temples; Thrones; Seats; Palms; Crowns; 
Reigning; Honor; Gold; Precious stones; Harps; 
Songs; Shouting Amen; Crying, holy; Elders; Angels; 
Kings; Priests; Multitudes that no man could num- 
ber; Ten thousand times ten thousand; And thou- 
sands of thousands. 

Fourth. Now we come to the great question, "Who 
shall enter into that holy place?" On this subject the 
Scriptures are hard to be misunderstood. Day and 
night, life and death, black and white, are not more 
unlike than the righteous and the wicked. We will 
only quote a few texts : " Except a man be born 
again, he can not enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
"Except your righteousness exceed the righteous- 
ness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case 
enter into the kingdom of heaven." And many other 
passages could be quoted. 

But, it will be said by some, we must be chari- 



164 



SERMONS. 



table toward the sinner; but in this case the sinner 
is not charitable, nor even merciful to himself. Christ 
says: "Ye would not come unto me that je might 
have life." They can not be admitted; they are not 
fit; they would spoil heaven; they would not enjoy 
heaven; they would want out if they were in. They 
can not bear the songs or society of God's children 
here on earth, and how would they tremble and fly 
before one of the New Jerusalem anthems as it rolled 
out its thundering chorus, "Unto him that loved us 
and washed us in his own blood, be glory, dominion, 
praise, and power for ever and ever." Such an 
ascription song from the multitude that no man could 
number, like the sound of many waters and mighty 
thunders, would send trembling through the knees, 
and anguish into the heart, till outer darkness itself 
would be more tolerable, and even more suitable to 
the unregenerate sinner. How any one who lives in 
the love of sin, and still expects to be admitted to a 
holy heaven, we never could see. How can God 
award the crowns and thrones of heaven to -a genera- 
tion of unrepenting rebels? But, it will be said that 
Christ died for them. True; but as they have re- 
jected him, so much more the condemnation. Christ 
himself says, "These shall go away into everlasting 
punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." 
Will it be said this is cruel? Yes, sin is cruel; 
but for sin, death would have no sting, and hell no 
existence. 

It is a noted fact that these persons who say all 



HEAVEN. 



165 



men will be saved, change their mind when they 
come to die. Sometimes this is sudden and terrible. 
Instead of a firm belief of waking up in heaven, there 
is a fearful apprehension of hell. Now, if all men jro 
to heaven when they die, what is the meaning of this 
fearful foreboding to the contrary? And it is always 
with the unregenerate. Whoever read or heard or 
saw a dying sinner that had a lively, happy sense of 
his near approach to heaven and happiness? Not 
one. On the contrary, how common for the real 
Christian to be filled with joy unspeakable, and a glo- 
rious apprehension of being right on the borders of 
eternal happiness ! A collection of their dying ex- 
pressions and triumphs would make volumes. Even 
Byron was puzzled with this stern reality when he 
wrote the following: 

"TVhen coldness wraps this suffering clay, 
Ah! whither strays the immortal mind? 
It can not die, it can not stay, 
But leaves its darkened dust behind." 

Beyond this, the poet had no light. How different 
the apostle, who said: "For we know if our earthly 
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a 
building of God, an house not made with hands, eter- 
nal in the heavens." 

No proof is needed to show that the righteous 
will go to their own place— the place prepared for 
them— the eternal inheritance. How different from 
the place prepared for the devil and his angels 1 How 
fitting that the children of God should be together 



166 



SERMONS. 



in their Father's house of many mansions. All those 
travelers and pilgrims will be called home with a wide 
welcome from the Father; and all the household 
above "come ye blessed" — "exter into the joys of 
thy Lord." Great day ! Great meeting when the 
" ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to 
Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads ! 
they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and 
sighing shall flee away." 

Heaven is the great central habitation and home 
for all the good and great redeemed millions of the 
Calvary purchase — the high eternal camping ground 
circling round the throne of God, where good angels 
and just men made perfect, and higher orders and 
hierarchies of the older children of God dwell in his 
presence, and do his will in that boundless kingdom; 
where there is no constitution or law but love, and 
where everlasting friendship makes society a perpet- 
ual delight ; where all the countless millions partake 
freely of the mighty tide of joy that flows from the 
Father of all ! " They shall be abundantly satisfied 
with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make 
them drink of the river of thy pleasures." 

"Will we know our friends in heaven ? This is an 
often asked question, and some have desired to find 
something more definite in the Scriptures on this 
subject. There are a few passages that strongly in- 
fer it, and from the nature of things we almost in- 
tuitively believe it. Shall we know less in heaven 
than we do here? Shall we be denied one of the 



HEAVEN. 167 

most pleasure-giving fruits of love? But would it 
not be very gratifying if the Scriptures had said 
more about our friends? Perhaps it would; but is 
there not a reason? Is there not a tendency to saint 
worship, and also to take the mind from the Creator 
to the creature; from the Redeemer to the redeemed? 
The Chinese worship their ancestors ; and the Cath- 
olics worship the saints. There is also a strong ten- 
dency with some sincere Christians to think too con- 
stantly and abstractedly of their departed friends. We 
have known persons that grieved inordinately and con- 
tinued to mourn unreasonably; they sometimes build 
costly tombs to the memory of friends, while they 
lose sight of the living and give nothing or do noth- 
ing for the spread of the Gospel, nor even to secure 
their own salvation. The doctrines of Scripture are 
not to gratify our curiosity, or please our fancy. 
No good could come of any further knowledge on the 
subject of recognition. And it seems to be in the 
wisdom of God to let many of these interesting 
events break in upon us as we pass on through time 
and eternity. 

God seems to be pleased to astonish his children 
with more than they can ask or think; something of 
this may be known already. Our conversion and 
adoption was of such a nature that no previous view 
or description could come up to it. Our entire sanc- 
tification is entirely indescriptive. In the language 
of Wesley, "As the change undergone when the body 
dies is of a different kind and infinitely greater than 



168 



SERMONS. 



any we had known before, yea such as till then it is 
impossible to conceive ; so the change wrought when 
the soul dies to sin is of a different kind, and in- 
finitely greater than any we had known before, yea 
such as till then it is impossible to conceive till he 
experiences it." 

The resurrection of the body is described, but 
who fully knows the thrill of miraculous change, that 
will be upon as we go through; driving darkness 
back, making up for " dishonor," turning " weak- 
ness " to "power," transforming corruption to "in- 
corruption," and raising us up to a hitherto unknown 
discovery of power and experience ? So when we 
enter the jasper city and look for the first time on 
the twelve foundations, and come suddenly on one of 
our long-lost friends, amid the flashing of jasper and 
chrysolite, and the still brighter flashing of precious 
memories, that will be a heavenly surprise, and be 
one of an endless succession of wonders, the more 
interesting- because not anticipated. 

But we have not yet spoken of the greatest glory 
of heaven. Though there be mansions and thrones 
and crowns and palms and songs and harps with hal- 
leluiahs as the sound of many waters and mighty 
thunders — that would not be heaven. And, though 
all glorious things, descriptive or indescriptive with 
all the precious jewelry of the material universe for 
decorations, that would not be heaven. " But the 
Lamh is the light of it" He who prepared the 'place 
is greater than the place. blessed Savior, thou 



HEAVEN. 



169 



that hast redeemed us with thine own blood, and 
hast made us kings and priests unto God, unto thy 
name be glory, praise, and power, forever and ever. 

And then when we see him throned in his own 
unutterable glory, with the hundred and forty and 
four thousand, and the beasts and the elders and the 
company that no man could number, mingle all your 
voices and tongues. And ye seven angels, prepare 
to sound the second time ; and thou mighty angel 
that holdest the censer with the prayers of saints, 
pour out your incense and fill heaven with sweet odors. 
And now ye old sheepskin wearers, of whom the 
world was not worthy, this is your day: shout and 
hold high jubilee forever ! 

" When shall I reach that happy place, 
And be forever blest ? 
When shall I see my Father's face, 
And in his bosom rest ? 

Filled with delight my raptured soul 

Would here no longer stay; 
Though Jordan's waves around me roll, 

Fearless I'd launch away." 
15 



LECTURES. 



I. 

THE MANNER OF PREACHING. 

Chesterfield said that Lord Townsend spoke 
with sound argument and knowledge, but was heard 
with impatience and ridicule, because his voice was 
bad and his diction was always vulgar and frequently 
incorrect ; whereas the Duke of Argyle, whose matter 
was flimsy, and his reasoning the weakest ever ad- 
dressed to an intelligent assembly, charmed, warmed, 
and delighted his audience by a noble air, polished 
style, and fine voice. Lord Chesterfield himself in- 
troduced a bill to reform the calendar, and afterward 
said : " I knew little of the matter, but they thought 
I informed them and made it clear, because I pleased 
them." But Lord Macclesfield, a profound astrono- 
mer, followed, with a thorough knowledge of the sub- 
ject, and as much lucidity as the subject admitted; 
but Chesterfield took the palm. Weight, without 
luster, is lead. 

A good manner of preaching is a means of action 

i7i 



172 



LECTURES. 



ratlier than a source of strength — our sinews, not our 
life. Warren Hastings said, when listening to Burke's 
speech, in conducting the prosecution against him, 
that though he had before thought himself innocent 
of any grave charges, he "then felt himself to be the 
most guilty person in the world." If such was the 
power of speech before a British court, how impor- 
tant t^at the best powers be used before the court of 
human judgment and conscience. As a rule, whatever 
is proper to be done at all, should be done right. 

Of all the duties assigned to man, preaching the 
everlasting Gospel is one of the most important and 
honorable, and should be done in the best possible 
manner — every gift of nature improved to the high- 
est degree ; and every help of art accepted and ap- 
plied in the wisest way ; and every grace of the 
Spirit invoked, as the highest help of all. The Lord 
could have published his Gospel by the voice of 
angels, who would have rejoiced to come down from 
heaven, and, on hasty wing, tell in rapture and music 
the glad tidings of great joy. But it pleased him to 
commit it to men ; and to the faithful performance 
thereof, to award the thrones and crowns of heaven 
through all the immeasurable beatitudes of everlast- 
ing life. 

We have many inducements to preach well; they 
come from heaven and earth, time and eternity, 
angels and God, to warn and teach men to draw im- 
mortal minds from death's dark reign, and send them 
toward heaven. To have the care of souls that must 



MANNER OF PREACHING. 



173 



sigh and suffer in one world, or live and sing in 
another, is higher than to preside over nations or rule 
millions. The Apostle Paul was entirely consistent 
with the greatness of the subject when he " warned 
them, night and day, with tears." 

I. Naturalness. 

If we were asked what is the greatest fault in 
the manner of preaching, we would say, want of nat- 
uralness. But it may be said if good doctrine be 
preached, and the truth be presented in any way, the 
minister has discharged his duty — that any attempt 
at improvement in manner is a want of trust in the 
matter. We answer, that the highest attainment of 
art is the best imitation of nature, and whoever is 
careless about pleasing the ear, will seldom reach the 
heart; for faith itself comes by hearing. He that 
would take a city, must not offend the sentinel. 
Truth, like innocence or honesty, may be betrayed or 
belied, and though mighty when dressed in its own 
robes, and presented in its own selfhood, yet, some- 
times, the path in which it is sent is so tortuous, 
and the burden it has to bear so great, that most of 
the value of its rich stores are unavailable. 

Truth asks only her own, and would alike refuse 
to be denied her eyesight, or to stand in Saul's armor. 
A learned bishop of London, once in conversation 
with a tragedian, asked : " Why is it that the people 
prefer to hear you to me, prefer fiction to truth, 
when you know that what you say, whether true or 



174 



LECTURES. 



not, does not much concern them, while what I say 
is of the greatest of importance to them." The tra- 
gedian answered : " You speak truth like fiction, and 
[ speak fiction like truth." Though every preacher 
may not be endowed with extraordinary talents, and 
may be ungraceful in style, yet that man that is 
called of God to preach, and will be true to himself, 
and makes no attempts to imitate any one else in tone 
or gesture, or any undue effort at eloquence or great- 
ness, but who aims at the most simple presentation 
and enforcement of truth, will certainly succeed. 

The most manifest unnaturalness is in the voice. 
The voice is an instrument of matchless beauty and 
variety, but not any more wonderful or varied than 
the ear of the hearer. 

II. Monotony. 

Monotony is one of the most common kinds of un- 
naturalness ; and he is an uncommon speaker if en- 
tirely free from it. When continued throughout a 
discourse, it is a fault so great that no amount of 
other good qualities will atone for it. Some speakers 
go off into it like a person going into a state of an- 
sesthesis, from some ethereal inspiration — and very 
much like that phenomenon ; the moment when the 
spell comes cn is not attended with a consciousness of 
the fact, still less the continuation of it. Such a 
speaker fairly in this state, and thoroughly under 
way, is not very unlike a somnambulist — most inter- 
esting to himself. 



MANNER OF PREACHING. 



175 



There are many kinds of monotony : rough, smooth, 
slow, fast, loud, low, high key, low key, and no key 
at all ; nasal, guttural, whining, and drawling. When 
once a speaker is under way, with his wheels in this 
rut, it produces an unaccountable stupor in the hearer. 
It is like a breeze in the forest leaves, or rain on the 
roof. The hearer may be a man of devotion, and be 
aware of the greatness of the subject ; have high re- 
spect for the speaker; see much talent in the compo- 
sition ; originality, system, and every thing to make 
the sermon great. He may also make a desperate 
effort to keep awake; may wonder at himself for 
such indifference to the truth. But in spite of all 
this, his eyelids begin to go down, and his head feels 
the need of a prop for the time being. If the hearer 
is not religious, he will not incline to go again ; hence 
the thinness of some congregations. 

Should the speaker be aware of his fault, and 
ma,ke an effort to break away, that very effort may 
produce, another kind of monotony, as bad or worse 
than the first — as when a man would raise one foot 
out of the mire, he sinks the other deeper. E"o mere 
theory or mechanical effort will ever succeed in curing 
this evil, if, indeed, it can be cured at all with some 
speakers. At the risk of being criticised severely, we 
will give our views of the best method of treatment. 

The chief difficulty is not for want of feeling, but 
for the right kind. We observe speakers entering the 
pulpit so excited that they tremble; this is called em- 
barrissment, and is sometimes intense. We say this 



176 



LECTURES. 



is the wrong kind of emotion. Half this feeling 
would make almost any man interesting, not to say 
eloquent, if it was of the right kind. What, then, is 
the right kind? Surely, not a dread concern about 
failure, or a painful solicitude to preach a great ser- 
mon, though these feelings abstractly, if entertained in 
a subordinate degree, are not wrong ; but they do n't 
help the speaker while before an audience ; they 
occupy his emotional nature, which is just now needed 
for emotions of another kind. "We say that at such 
time the entire mind should be taken up with the 
greatness and spirit of the subject itself. It must 
be in his heart, and his heart in it He must have 
such a consciousness of the truth and authority of 
his subject, that all his emotional powers be taken up, 
and such enthusiasm kindled there, that there be no 
room for embarrassment, no time to even think one 
second about what any mortal might think or judge 
of the sermon. This is pleasure to the speaker him- 
self. He is the honored herald of Jehovah, and he 
knows it, and takes to himself the pleasure and honor 
of it, as he has a right to do ; not ostentatiously, for 
he is himself one of the best hearers, as well as the 
most moved. 

Under such emotions, every shackle of embarrass- 
ment and man-fearing will fly, and every mental fetter 
break. Monotony is broken, naturalness is estab- 
lished, the people are pleased and edified, and they 
will come again. By this feeling we do not mean 
mere human emotion, as one feels a sense of grandeur 



MANNER OF PREACHING. 



177 



at seeing a mountain or great river. It certainly in- 
cludes these natural elements of emotion ; but in this 
case there is a holy unction upon a true herald of 
the Gospel that' gives him a power and spirit that 
the world can not understand. This is what Peter re- 
fers to when he speaks of the Gospel being "preached 
unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." 

This may be disputed by some, but we say, let a 
man try ; let him see what the Holy Spirit will do 
for him before he objects. 

A man, with feeling of this kind, will show it in 
everv tone of voice, and though he may not be favored 
with what we call talent, there will be something that 
will take and keep the attention. TVe have heard 
illiterate persons, when under a sudden fright, or emo- 
tion of anger or joy or surprise, that thrilled us in an 
instant, though they only uttered one sentence or a 
single word: this is because of intense feeling that 
accompanied the voice as the sound was uttered. 

We once heard a man describing the eloquence of 
Bishop Bascom ; and he said he thought that in one 
part of the sermon, when he came to treat of anger, 
that Bascom really became angry. Xo man should 
attempt to move a congregation till he is moved him- 
self. He should never let his voice rise above a con- 
versational tone till his own heart rises. Not to 
observe this leads to many errors. One of the greatest 
is an unnatural tone of voice, generally on too high 
a key. Instead of feeling a perfect opulence of 
words and thoughts, scarcely restraining the pent up 



178 



LECTURES. 



heat of the mind, the whole man seems to labor 
against influences that he might avoid entirely. Warm 
words spoken from a cold and barren heart, will be as 
the running of heavy machinery, but no fine adjust- 
ments or successful points. 

Much has been written about the use of certain 
muscles, taking breath, upward pressure, and many 
other things. It may be well to study these, but the 
young speaker will not find as great advantages from 
their observance as a lecturer on elocution would have 
him believe. 

Next to monotony, and often accompanying it, is 
the habit of drawling out the words to an undue 
length. This is always at the expense of the speak- 
er's strength, and wearisome to the hearer. This 
drawl is often an imitation of some other drawler. It 
is remarkable that these imitators never take the best, 
but the very vices of the one they imitate. To keep 
a clear, strong voice, the health of the speaker must 
be good, just as the joints and strings of an instru- 
ment must be complete to make good music. So the 
human voice is an instrument of greater compass and 
finer adjustments than any ever made by man, and it 
ought to be in good condition. A dyspeptic or in- 
temperate person may be a good speaker, but will al- 
ways be far inferior to what he might be. 

The lining membrane of the throat is an impor- 
tant organ. When this is the channel of fetid gases 
from an overcharged gastric task, it loses its power 
of resistance, so that very little speaking can be 



MANNER OF PREACHING. 



179 



endured, and also the tone of voice is injured. The 
use of tobacco takes away the finest touches of vocal 
sweetness, and flattens out many a fine voice ; but it 
is done so gradually that the speaker never observes 
it, and perhaps does not believe it. Public speakers 
sometimes lose their popularity from this cause, when 
it is attributed to old age or natural infirmity. Bishop 
Janes once said that tobacco was a great superannu- 
ator. A man, temperate in all things, with naturally 
a good voice and a cheerful spirit, can speak almost 
from morning till night without hoarseness or weari- 
ness. It is not excitement or labor that hurts men — 
it is some kind of abuse. 

The voice should never be forced or urged to do 
what is not done naturally and with pleasure. The 
speaker's words should be like Marius's soldiers, who 
could scarcely be kept in the trenches; who clam- 
ored for a chance to issue forth to try their armor 
and valor. Sometimes the speaker starts on a key 
too high, and the voice is kept on a strain through- 
out the discourse — he knows that something is wrong, 
but hardly knows what, nor has the mind delibera- 
tion or coolness enough to stop and inquire, and 
is like a swimmer in shallow water fearing to let 
down his feet, lest he find no bottom. This is hard 
on the vocal organs, embarrassing to the speaker's 
mind, and painful to the hearer. The only remedy 
is to let the voice down and make an abrupt pause, 
and utter a few sentences in a low tone, even at the 
risk of not being heard 4 by all. At the same time 



180 



LECTURES. 



take in two or three full breaths, then speak slowly 
for several minutes. Allow the mental operation to 
go farther in advance of the vocal sounds. Let the 
materials of the subject warm and oil the mental 
wheels before the voice utters them. 

But if all of these fail it is always best to give 
a summary account of what remains of the dis- 
course, in the shortest manner and quit the field. 
For a short retreat is better than a long defeat. For 
if great length be added to other embarrassments it 
becomes unbearable. 

III. Affectation. 

This style may be observed with many variations, 
but chiefly the pronunciation of words. Any kind 
of a sound or tone or accent or prolongation, dif- 
fering from what is commonly used in conversation, 
is in bad taste. The hearer will detect it instantly. 
It is as an instrument with a broken string, or a coat 
that was cut for another man. The speaker seems to 
be aiming at a most elegant pronunciation. Some of 
the letters are not sounded, and others are given a 
peculiar tone. Long polysyllables are chosen in pref- 
erence to the neat, blunt, strong Anglo Saxon mono- 
syllables. Sometimes affectation and monotony keep 
step to the very end of a discourse. Every word, little 
or big, high or low, is uttered with the same obliquity, 
like a gunner shooting all balls out of the same bore. 

When these two weaknesses come together, noth- 
ing but the perpetual sound of his own voice, in its 



MANNER Of PREACHING. 181 



gradual approach to this style, hides it from his own 
ear; for no speaker plunges into this instantly; no, 
not usually for the first five or ten minutes. For if 
one sentence of this artificial tread-wheel could be 
sounded by itself, it would be ridiculous enough to 
excite a laugh. Any departure from nature, whether 
attempted for elegance, grace, or dignity, is a weak- 
ness, and is a diversion of the mental and vocal forces 
from the subject itself to the mode of its delivery, 
and defeats the very object so carefully watched. 

Let it be a fixed principle with young speakers, 
that that man who speaks in the pulpit just as in 
common conversation is the best orthoepist. Let 
another principle be fixed also ; and that is, that 
words have no tails ; and that those who have tried 
their hands at this kind of grafting, have made noth- 
ing in the unnatural operation. Nor are words made 
stronger or more beautiful by dressing or primping. 
A man addressing a jury, or pleading for himself, or 
in solemn prayer to God for something he wants, will 
never think of whitewashing his words. Such has 
been the prevalence of these faults, that a disgraceful 
epithet has grown out of it, and, though with some 
mortification, we must admit the aptness of it—" cleri- 
cal tone." 

Nothing in these remarks is to be construed to 
favor a careless pronunciation or rudeness of style. 
Any low or trifling words, showing coarseness or 
commonplace mannerisms, or any vulgar witticisms, 
would only be attended with equal evil. 



182 



LECTURES. 



Some speakers, in attempting to avoid monotony 
and sameness, and being determined to make an im- 
pression, fall into a kind of explosive style — a sudden 
loud letting off of the voice, as if some new and 
extraordinary thought had suddenly sprung up in the 
mind so as to eclipse all that went before, and as if 
nothing short of a detonation would express it. This 
will, indeed, break monotony, and attract attention; 
but sensible people will not fail to see the unnatural- 
ness, and perhaps attribute a bad motive to it. 

IY. Length. 

Almost every fault can be excused in preaching, 
better than great length. Certainly, nothing thins a 
Sabbath congregation like long sermons. And then, 
long sermons seldom go alone. Thousands of persons 
would bear a sermon of forty or fifty minutes; but 
when they have also to hear a long hymn, a long 
prayer, and a long chapter before the long sermon, it 
is unendurable — at least many repetitions of it. Long 
sermons may be occasionally preached by some men 
on extraordinary occasions; but commonly a ser- 
mon should not be more than forty minutes in 
length. 

It will not do to argue that at places of amuse- 
ment or carnal pleasure forty minutes would only do 
for a prelude, or that in various worldly entertain- 
ments we would not tire for hours. This is all true ; 
but we must deal with facts as we find them, and not 
as we ought to find them. 



MANNER OF PREACHING. 



183 



V. Gesture. 

Very little gesture is needed in preaching, and, 
unless the mind becomes heated, it will only detract 
from the sermon. Even then it should be used with 
caution, suiting the motion to the sense. One of the 
most common errors is to make a gesture after the 
words are uttered: this is like making a prominent 
point of what is already known. As a rule, we may 
safely,say these two things: first, never make a ges- 
ture till the subject gets some intensity ; and, secondly, 
let the gesture go a little in advance of the words to 
which it relates. 

Awkward gestures usually arise from mental em- 
barrassment. When the speaker has liberty, and 
every thing goes well, and the hearer is pleased and 
moved, gesture will not be much observed, whether 
graceful or not. A tree that bears fine fruit will be 
admired and propagated, whether the leaves and 
branches are attractive or not. Some of the most 
popular orators of the world make very violent and 
awkward gestures — gestures that would be a very con- 
siderable objection to a poor speaker, and would only 
call out an incidental notice, when observed in a good 
speaker. 

VI. Loudness. 

As to the loudness of voice, several things must be 
considered. Some voices will not bear to be loud. As 
soon as they are raised, they lose all agreeableness, 
and become harsh and indistinct. Such speakers 



184 



LECTURES. 



should know that a low tone is their only success, and 
should never venture beyond the point where it loses 
its perspicuity and naturalness. 

It should not be forgotten that a low tone, with 
feeling ', may be almost as forcible as a loud voice ; 
and with some hearers, much more so. When the 
voice keeps its sweetness and clearness, and appears 
to the hearer that it is not forced, it may be lifted to 
its utmost compass without danger, especially when 
addressing a very large audience. 

VII. Figures. 

With young speakers, there is danger of flo- 
ridness; too highly wrought figures make the im- 
pression of extravagance. But, like a soil over- 
enriched, if every thing else is right, time and 
experience will correct this. 

Most writers agree that great license is due a 
young speaker in this matter. Such young men 
should not allow some old, dry, commonplace mind 
to discourage them. Some advice is necessary ; but 
if the mind naturally inclines to illustrate by figure, 
it should not be driven from it. The Scriptures 
abound in the loftiest figures ever spoken. There is, 
indeed, a certain severity of taste that every mind 
does not possess, and which no amount of teaching 
can supply. 

Happy is the man that has figure and taste in 
equal ratio. We are at liberty to present truth in a 
novel way, provided this novelty is not a violation of 



MANNER OF PREACHING. 



185 



the proprieties of speaking. Both nature and revela- 
tion abound with novelty. 

VIII. Close. 

One of the most important and difficult parts of a 
sermon is to close veil; to have the voice at perfect 
service, and the matter ready for a neat finish ; if 
possible, to have the most important part in the last 
sentence. Nothing but long and patient study and 
practice will attain this. George AYhitefield was once 
asked by a young minister how to preach. He illus- 
trated it by a blacksmith at his forge. He is seen 
carelessly blowing and occasionally stirring up the fire, 
and talking to a friend about other matters, and looks 
as if he had forgotten the iron; but after a time he 
begins to fix his eye on it; takes it out, and when 
the sparks leap out, and, to his practiced eye, denote 
the right heat, he stops short the conversation, and 
suddenly lets go the bellows, seizing the hammer, 
and right on the red-hot metal he pours the lusty 
strokes, giving attention to nothing else till the iron 
is forged. So, in preaching, our introduction may be 
cool, argument deliberate ; but the application and 
conclusion must be with all the energies of the soul. 
In other words : 

"Begin low, proceed slow, 
Rise higher, strike fire, 
And then retire." 

In conclusion, we have to acknowledge that rules 

and the closest study will not make a preacher of 

16 



186 



LECTURES. 



every man. To excel, a man must have special 
gifts and graces. And he must feel the dignity of 
his high calling; then, -with the gifts of nature, and 
the fire of thought, when he rises in the sacred place, 
must utter the mandates of the Almighty as the 
nuncio of the skies. His mental furniture must be 
polished by prayer and holy living. He must be 
able to say more than the Grecian master, " I paint 
for eternity but I paint for eternal life. 

The office of the ministry ought so completely to 
delight his mind and engage his powers, that it be- 
comes a mental as well as moral passion ; so that ris- 
ing before a congregation brings immediate inspiration 
over him, putting out, as the rising sun puts out the 
stars, all thoughts of embarrassment or failure, as well 
as mannerism or mechanical performance ; that he 
may feel the living truths in his heart trembling for 
freedom — arrows flashing for flight. As an embassa- 
dor of a great nation, with accredited authority of a 
powerful king, he stands to represent great power, 
and to feel the honor of his place so amply, that, 
though no defensive armor hangs by his side, yet he is 
as fearless as the angel that comes to sound the end 
of time. 



BRAINS. 



187 



II. 

BRAINS. 

This term is a colloquialism, and convenient to ex- 
press mind, with the right' use of it. It arises from 
the supposition that the brain is the seat of intellect, 
and that the size of the physical brain denotes the 
degree of intellect. It may spoil a nice theory to 
say that this is not altogether true, for some animals 
have a larger ratio of brain than man, and yet are 
inferior in intellect. The canary-bird and the blue- 
headed titmouse, and also some of the rodents, have 
larger brains in proportion to the size of their bodies, 
than man. 

The more subtle and imponderable agencies are 
the most interesting and powerful. They govern the 
physical world, and all curious phenomena depend on 
them. Mind is the most ethereal and farthest from 
matter, and must be before all things, and command 
all other agencies. The principle may be illustrated 
by considering these agencies : Solids, liquids, gases, 
heat, light, electricity, attraction, instinct, thoughts 
of the lower animals, thoughts of children and un- 
cultivated mind, thoughts of cultivated mind, thoughts 
of angels, of God. So we rise in the scale of 



188 



LECTURES. 



importance, from a cold, inert granite rock, to God's 
eternal mind. 

Certain it is, that intellectual endowment is the 
greatest gift of the Creator, and makes man head and 
lord of the lower creation. Without this, he would 
be one of the feeblest and most wretched of animals. 
Indeed, with it, and yet, without its cultivation, he 
is only a little above the lower animals — a smart 
animal. 

Men differ more in their intellects than in their 
bodies. We call attention to some that have been 
prodigies. Sir Isaac Newton was as far superior in 
mental grasp to common men, as a giant to a little 
child. He wrought out problems, and made rules that 
common scholars could not comprehend, though it 
takes a hundred times more intellect to discover a 
thing than to understand it after it is discovered. 
On the authority of Pliny, we learn that Carmides 
had committed to memory the whole of a large 
library ; great volumes were entirely at his command 
from memory. Dr. Adam Clarke was a good trans- 
lator in thirty languages, and could read many more. 
Thomas Thelkeld was a living concordance in three 
languages, Hebrew, Greek, and English. There was 
a woman employed in the archives of the king's 
library in England, who, from memory, could tell 
almost every name and date, and find any book, or 
paper, or passage, in those vast piles of government 
documents in the British offices. 

The interesting history of Zerah Colburn, well 



BRAINS. 



189 



known in this country, shows capacity for mathemat- 
ical calculations far out of the common order. He 
could instantly tell the number of days and hours in 
any number of years up to eighteen hundred, and 
tell the seconds in any number of years under ten ; 
could raise great numbers to high powers in a mo- 
ment. Napier, the inventor of logarithms, has left a 
work of astonishing powers of mind, and while these 
tables are used, his name will be great. We once had 
the privilege of hearing and seeing Daniel M'Cartney, 
of Iowa, who could raise a number as high as thirty- 
seven to the fifth power in a minute, and give the 
cube root of large numbers almost in an instant. He 
was also able to tell any passage in the NeAV Testa- 
ment, chapter and verse, by hearing a part of it read. 
He was a complete living concordance of the New 
Testament. He could also tell the state of the 
weather, forenoon and afternoon, and where he was, 
and what he was doing every day for forty years past. 
And he also knew in a moment all the remarkable 
events that had transpired within his knowledge back 
for forty years. He could also tell in a moment the 
day of the week back for that length of time, by 
knowing the year and day of the month. This won- 
derful man lived in obscurity till quite old. Nobody 
seemed to notice these powers. He was nearly blind, 
and a good part of his life was spent in sawing wood 
for a living (a great shame to the people and part of 
the country where he lived). Of the truth of my 
statements, I have only to say that Daniel M'Cartney 



190 



LECTURES. 



appeared before the Faculty and a large number of 
the students of the Ohio Wesleyan University in the 
year 1871, and showed these matters as above stated. 
Had this mighty mind been brought out, he would 
have been one of the noted characters of history. 
When we inquired as to how he arrived at these 
things, he could not tell us of any mental process or 
mode of induction by which he did it. Another kind 
of mind, and none the less wonderful and curious, is 
that of the colored musician, "Blind Tom," who can 
do what no other person ever did — play a tune with 
his right hand, another with his left, and sing an- 
other — all proceeding together. 

These prodigies show the vast capabilities of the 
human mind. It is probable that all common minds 
have these same powers in a small degree; and in a 
higher state of existence they will be brought out. 

Of all the great things that go on, thinking is the 
greatest. It is the great invisible governing power 
that wields all other powers. All the great and cu- 
rious objects on earth are brought forth of thought. 
Before the crystal palace stood up in Sydenham, or 
any eye saw and admired its grand proportions, it was 
born in Paxton's mind, and laid on paper by his hand. 
The great Milan Cathedral has stood five hundred 
years, the wonder and admiration of the traveler; 
but the mind of Marco Compioni produced it first, 
and its wonderful form stood up in his mind before a 
stone was moved, or a spire lifted up its lofty point. 
The Atlantic cable was laid in the brain of Cyrus 



ERAINS. 



191 



Field long before it was coiled in the Great Eastern, 
or dropped in the ocean. The Pyramid of Cheops is 
many hundred years old ; but the great wonder is not 
so much the vast pile of cold stone, as the once 
living, thinking mind that planned and built it. When 
we hear the thunder of the coming train, with its va- 
rious contrivances, we say that is great, and so it is ; 
but the mind that silently thought out every piece of 
iron and steel and brass, every wheel and bar and 
bolt and screw, was greater. And so of every thing 
that rests, or rolls, or soars, from insect to angel, 
above all and before all, and greater than all. Mind 
moves the universe. 

We know it will be said that many of these things 
are under law, and that laws govern the universe ; 
but this is only another way to express nearly the 
same thing. Laws can not execute themselves. 

It has been truly said that mind is the standard 
of the man; and, perhaps, the same is true of the 
angels who excel in strength. That strength is doubt- 
less on account of their great knowledge. 

"Were I so tall to reach the pole, 
And grasp the ocean with a span, 
I would be measured by my soul — 
The mind's the standard of the man." 

What is the difference between Everett and a 
stevedore? between Newton and his house-servant? 
Nearly nothing but the cultivated mind. But who 
esteems the natural endowment of a mind ? Who 
thanks the Creator for this that sets him above the 



192 



LECTURES. 



lower creation ? Even though I may not be endowed 
with a mind above ordinary men, yet what a gift is 
the common mind ! 

I may talk thus to my soul. I am not a singer, 
but I find in me a capability to hear the most en- 
rapturing strains with delight — nearly as great as if 
I could produce them. I rise, without hand or foot, 
along with the singer, through all the varied quavers 
and trills, up to the highest and down to the lowest ; 
floating through the octaves, slow or swift ; moving or 
melting, or lingering with the long semibreve, or 
tipped with a denii-semi-quaver ; making transitions 
like a flying pole-changer, or lightning round a helix. 
I am not an orator, but I find something in my soul 
that takes in the great oration ; going with the 
speaker as he ripples along on the surface, or delves 
into the deep; with equal ease I go with him through 
costly arcades, or curious phenomena. I ascend with 
him to empyrean heights, or delve to cavernous 
depths ; and in all these rapid emotions I feel only a 
little less moved than the wonderful orator himself. 
Now what is this? I call it mine; I call it myself. 
I did not make it, nor could I conceive of it till its 
wonders steal on me, and its powers stir within me. 
Firing cannon, blasting rocks, or ballooning above the 
clouds, are not so great as original silent thought, 
although the other things attract the multitude. 

As true manhood is esteemed, and old brute cus- 
toms give wav — when the trial of muscle and bone 

CD J 

is given up for the higher trial of mind — then will 



BRAINS. 



193 



be seen the true and worthy conflict of mind with 
mind, and brains will make a better race than bones. 
If we are to have a campus martius, let it be of 
brains. An ignorant old man, once in conversation 
with an intelligent friend, was urged to give his sou 
an education : but, said he, " What would John do 
with an education ?" Said his friend, " That is not 
the point ; but what will education do with John V 

It will be well for the country when this great 
source of real wealth is appreciated. We say that 
such a man is worth so much — ten thousand, or a 
hundred thousand; but who has calculated the worth 
ot men of brains, who, by a single discovery, have 
brought more material wealth to the country than 
a hundred millionaires ? Arkwright and Whitney 
were worth more to England than all the Roth- 
schild houses together. Fulton and M'Cormiek and 
Howe have been worth more to America than all the 
Girards and Vanderbilts in the land. They were men 
of brains rather than means. Men of brains can live 
and get rich on a rock, while those who have none 
would become poor in Goshen. . This principle is ev- 
ident from the history of the American continent. 
The northern rocky, thin-soiled, long-wintered climate 
of New England, was made to abound with fine fields 
and large cities and comfortable houses ; while the 
southern portions of the country, settled earlier, and 
with a genial climate and a rich soil, with longer Sum- 
mers, has remained a poor, wretched country, with 
poor buildings, ignorant and unhappy inhabitants, 

17 



194 



LECTURES. 



sparse settlements, miserable roads, and few of the 
comforts of civilization. The reason of this differ- 
ence is stated in one word — brains. Not that the 
inhabitants of that part of our country are deficient 
in natural mental capacity; but they have had no 
cultivation. 

Brains build cities and make roads, and contrive 
a thousand conveniences to make life happy. A na- 
tion of thinkers is almost invincible ; thinking opens 
new mines and new powers, leads into rich harvests 
and walks in green savannas. 

But it will be said that brains are sometimes used 
for evil as well as good purposes. True ; but when 
we strike the difference between thinking and not 
thinking, we find the former more favorable to good 
living and moral rectitude. We know that such is 
man's natural ignorance, that there must be a vast 
amount of lost thinking; and yet, notwithstanding 
this, we had better lose something than not to think 
at all. 

The men that spent years on the quadrature 
of the circle, philosopher's stone, inextinguishable 
flame, and a universal solvent, did not entirely lose 
their time, for such is the nature of brain-work, 
that while it is searching for gold, it often finds 
silver; and while it is seeking diamonds, it finds 
pearls. 

So fruitful is the thinking process, that while the 
old alchemists were seeking a universal solvent and 
the transmutation of metals, they made valuable dis- 



BRAINS. 



195 



coveries in chemistry, and enriched the "world with 
facts that are of use in the arts to this day. 

After all that may he said of the failure of those 
old experimenters and the loss of their time, they 
were happier in the pursuit of some ideal treasure 
than the lazy dolt whose employment was the daily 
round of eating and sleeping, and who would touch 
nothing that would not yield immediate fruit. Such 
are the minds that keep the great pagan nations 
locked up in a fixed dungeon of superstition, whose 
only answer to questions of improvement is, " Our 
fathers knew nothing of it or, " It was always as it 
is now;" or, "Our ancestors would be offended if we 
would make a change;" or, "Any thing that we do n't 
know is not worth knowing ;" or, " The outside barba- 
rians can't teach us any thing that we do n't already 
know." Even in a civilized country, the great ma- 
jority make but poor use of their brains. Most men 
think in small circles, and of things relating to their 
lowest nature. Like a vine, where nothing is offered 
for its tendrils, it must creep on the ground, or rot 
in the shade. 

. Without brain culture, the multitude gives atten- 
tion to the nearest and cheapest objects of gratifica- 
tion — always ready for any cheap excitant, or amuse- 
ment, without regard to quality. If Edward Everett 
were announced to deliver an oration, at a given time, 
in one end of the park, and two curs were announced 
for a fight at the same time, in the other end of the 
park, the dogs would have the crowd. This difference 



196 



LECTURES. 



of taste does not all depend on capacity or natural 
ability to judge of what is noble or low, but chiefly 
on culture ; for some of those minds that are more 
interested in dogs than men, under other training 
and circumstances, would range themselves on the 
other side. 

We know that even cultivated men make great 
mistakes as to what they set their minds on ; over- 
looking the best things, and waste their high gifts on 
things that perish with the using. They are like the 
absent-minded star-gazer, who was gazing intently up 
into the heavens, forgetful of his standing place, 
when, suddenly, the stars went out, and his vision was 
cut off, and rocks and darkness rushed on him, and 
lo ! he found he had fallen into a well. 

We have said that culture is most favorable to 
moral rectitude, but not without great capabilities for 
evil. It took an angel to make a devil. The more 
exalted, the more perverted. While we are sure that 
intelligence is most favorable for virtue and good so- 
ciety, we have no confidence in mere intellectual 
laws, or rationalistic fitness of things as the ultimate 
rule of action. Cold, calculating, rigid rectitude, 
without joyful purpose, will give out and die of sen- 
timental poverty, and the weeds and brambles of the 
lower nature will grow all over this high-fenced field. 
The human mind is a harp that may be touched with 
master fingers, and send forth all varied and en- 
trancing charms, till you feel that there is nothing in 
it but concord, rhythm, and melody. But that same 



BRAINS. 



197 



harp may be rent by the rude hand of ignorance or 
passion, till its delicate strings groan in horrible dis- 
cords, or are rent from their frame, and their sound 
dies away forever. The human mind is a wonderful 
instrument, with almost immeasurable capacities for 
greatness, but may be neglected or abused till its 
vast powers are buried up or blotted over ; till life is 
only a sensuous consciousness, without object, aim, or 
end. One act of sin may send it reeling from its 
empire throne to come up no more forever. 

It is well to observe what vast extremes man is 
capable of; going down to the lowest depths of 
shame — lower than the lowest capabilities of the ug- 
liest brute ; or, on the other extreme, rising up 
through all the grades of mental and moral greatness, 
of regenerating power and exaltation, till crowned 
with eternal life and glory, above all time and chance 
and change, in eternal companionship with angels 
and God. 



198 



LECTURES. 



III. 

GENERAL EDUCATION NECESSARY TO 
A REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT. 

As soon as the human race began to multiply on 
the earth, they began to kill one another; and killing 
the greatest number has been counted the greatest of 
all human glory. This is called war, and has been 
the great theater of honor and power. Wars have 
prevailed through all past time, in every country and 
clime. No nation or place on the breadth of the 
earth has escaped its desolating tread. It has been 
the chief employment of mankind, and most other 
pursuits have been made to subserve war. All other 
efforts, expenditures, and sufferings, are inferior to the 
vast schemes of war. Take up a faithful history of 
any of the nations of the earth, ancient or modern, 
and on almost every page are found records of gather- 
ing armies, battles and blood, with all the untold 
horrors that attend and follow in the red line of war. 
The numbers of its victims are beyond computation. 
To say thousands, or millions, or billions, we have but 
a vague idea. The sufferers would be a company that 
no man could number ; and all this has been, in most 
cases, to gratify the vanity and ambition of a few. 



EDUCATION. 



199 



At the present time, 1875, a remarkable quiet 
prevails among the great nations of the earth ; but 
they are only waiting to gather more men and ma- 
terials, and then open the broad tide of death upon 
each other, as in the ages past. Europe never had as 
great armies as at this time. Not less than five 
millions of ignorant creatures are now under arms, 
wholly uninterested in the principles of any war that 
may arise, but trained and kept ready on a bare sub- 
sistence of coarse food and clothing, waiting for the 
awful march of death that hurls them against others 
equally ignorant, and serving other masters equally 
wicked. 

This evil is so old and vast and general, that 
little has been done to mitigate it ; and when one 
lone voice speaks, it is as if one would plead with the 
black clouds of heaven, where they sweep the earth 
with rage, and lay cities in ruin. But will this mon- 
ster evil — this greater than Euroclydon, sweep on and 
waste our suffering race, as in the dark and bloody 
ages of the past? While a few minds have power 
over the nations, and the masses that compose them 
are ignorant, we see no hope. 

The great question of this age now is, Can the 
people govern themselves ? Are they capable of suf- 
ficient intelligence to decide what is best for them- 
selves? Can a republican form of government stand? 
We might as well admit that history does not furnish 
us much encouragement. We hear of ancient re- 
publics, and of their weakness and overthrow. We 



200 



LECTURES. 



hear the old aristocratic dogmas that have been cast 
into the form of political aphorisms, such as these: 
" Republics are not strong enough ;" " Republics have 
always been short-lived;" "Republics are only or- 
ganized mobs "Republics die hard." And, finally, 
all the republics of past time, including those re- 
nowned governments of Greece and Rome and Car, 
thage, have passed away forever. But all this is 
hasty reasoning. We do not believe a republic, with 
any constitution or laws, however wise, can stand, if 
the people are without intelligence. How can an 
ignorant people choose representatives better than 
themselves ? 

Ancient republics, of which so much has been 
said, were made up of savage hordes of people, that 
were wholly at the bidding of a few demagogues. 
Nothing recorded in history prior to the fourth of 
July, A. D. 1776, deserves the name of republic; and 
the friends and advocates of this form of government 
have no more hope of success with an ignorant people, 
than they would to build colleges for the lower ani- 
mals. This is the great problem that is to decide the 
destiny of our country — compared to which, tariffs, 
taxes, and finances, are little things. 

But the subject has many hinderances, a few of 
which may be mentioned: 

First, the natural indolence of a well-fed people 
is a great hinderance. Most young persons are averse 
to thinking, and think no more than is necessary to 
gratify and provide for their lower nature, a nature 



EDUCATION. 



201 



common to other animals. This indolence is a 
favorable soil for various vices that weaken the best 
powers of soul and body, such as intemperance of 
various kinds, chewing, smoking, snuffing, opium-eat- 
ing, lasciviousness, and all manner of provisions for 
the flesh. Multitudes of this class gather together at 
a cross-roads store or small village grocery, sit on 
boxes and whittle sticks, if they are easy to whittle, 
for they are constitutionally opposed to do any thing 
that is not easily done. They use bad English, and 
their ideas are like the cryptogamia that floats on a 
stagnant pool — thin, and green, and sickly. We have 
sometimes been compelled to be for a short time 
where these "white male voters" whittle. What 
makes this class of persons hard to reach or reform 
is, they are like a little animal of the genus Talpa, 
commonly called a mole, which, though they imagine 
they dig very deep, are always near the surface; 
think they are far-seeing, yet have very little eyes. 

Another great hinderance is misguided parents, 
who seem to imagine that the future welfare of their 
children depends on the amount of property they can 
leave them. They can generally see how wealth 
hurts other people's children, but think it safe with 
their own. We see a father toil on for years to ac- 
cumulate a fortune for his children, and not see the 
utter poverty of their intellects and hearts. It is to 
be feared that in many instances this property is 
doubly damning to father and son. He lost his soul 
to get it, and the son loses his soul to spend it. The 



202 



LECTURES. 



father lived poor, and labored like a slave. The son 
starts like a northern plant in a hot-bed; but before 
he has root, or leaf, or stamina, the hidden threads of 
soft and deadly fungus bind him fast in death, so that 
he is neither a good citizen nor a happy man. He 
begins where the father left off, and ends where the 
father began. 

Another hinderance to general education is the Ro- 
man Catholic Church; as far as its influence goes, the 
masses stay in ignorance. While the city of Eome 
teems with red velvet and gold lace, and regalia of 
every imaginable flourish, to take the eye of the 
masses, yet the great principle so truly spoken by 
Gregory is manifest to this day: "Ignorance is the 
mother of devotion." Pius IX has been in trouble 
for several years, and whoever reads his bulls and 
encyclicals, can not fail to see the source of his 
sorrows. It is nothing short of his lamentations over 
the advancing heresy, as he calls it, of the right of 
private judgment, and liberty of conscience. With 
such a head as that old despotic Church has, and with 
the blind and superstitious attachment that the igno- 
rant thousands that are now gathering on our shores 
manifest, is it any wonder that they are slow to see 
and fall in with the genius of our government? And 
will it not be wise to look well to this while we are 
fixing the terms of franchise? When the mighty 
struggle for life in this country was raging at its 
angriest efforts, Pio Nino was the only potentate that 
formally acknowledged our enemies, and delighted the 



EDUCATION. 



203 



Cotton President with a flattering document, sealed 
with the holy ring of St. Peter. 

We are not afraid, but we should be cautious; 
these multitudes must be educated, or they will be 
a dangerous element. At any rate the masses of 
our people should be so educated that no section, or 
city, or State could rise, or rebel, or secede with any 
hope of success. When a whole nation is educated 
up to a degree that some portions of our country 
now are, they are as invincible as if every man was 
a major-general with stars on his shoulders. When 
I say invincible I mean especially from demagog- 
ism and party cam-work, which is more dangerous 
than any foreign foe, and has been the greatest evil 
of all in any republican government. To such a 
people it is no matter of concern what any great 
man or convention does. Each one for himself takes 
a daily paper and understands politics as well as the 
President himself. Suppose a great national conven- 
tion to gather like the democratic masses that went 
up to Rome or Athens to elect a tribune or a trium- 
virate, and suppose this convention be composed of 
the highest men of the nation, even ex-presidents, 
senators, judges, governors, and clown through all 
the grades of officers, and then the innumerable 
crowds of smaller expectants, till all the streets in 
the great city be thronged, and till it is said that no 
such convention ever assembled since the day that 
Scipio entered Rome. And now suppose that they 
make a declaration of principles, and call it a plat- 



204 



LECTURES. 



form, and send it out swifter than the heralds that 
traveled on swift dromedaries: even the invisible 
spirit of the thunderbolt, hastening with it to the 
ends of the nation. What of all this, when the in- 
telligent, reading, thinking millions have considered 
it? They are about as little changed in their polit- 
ical views, as if an eruption of Moua Loa in the 
Pacific Ocean had been heard of. 

This is the beauty and glory of a republic; and 
every philanthropist and statesman should look well 
to it. Especially now should we see this, for it is 
well known that the great rebellion that tried our 
country to its utmost for its very life arose from that 
portion of the country where more than half the 
people could neither read nor write. 

It being then established that republics can only 
stand where the people are intelligent, let every 
statesman and philanthrophist, especially let every 
Protestant minister, be an active worker in the cause 
of education. Let him show every possible favor 
and encouragement to schools and colleges — defenses 
greater than arsenals and armories. Every good 
college is worth a score of forts or fortresses ; every 
educated township is better than an iron- clad war 
ship. Books are better than brass buttons. For 
with an educated people we will have all the ele- 
ments of power. If forts are needed engineers are 
plenty; if iron-clads are called for, mental power 
can shape the iron. 

Mind is not only the measure of the man, but of 



EDUCATION. 



205 



the nation. An ignorant people can be easily duped 
by any demagogue who will make much of their 
rights and magnify their wrongs. It never did re- 
quire much persuading to inflame an ignorant crowd, 
that somebody was oppressing them and that their 
poverty (for they are poor because ignorant) is on 
account of oppression. Ignorance has a quicker ear 
for its rights than for its duties. Gregory was a 
wise statesman when he said the declaration of rights 
was incomplete without the declaration of duties — an 
attempt to be free without being just. 

This taking advantage of ignorance has been 
the greatest source of insurrection and bloodshed. 
Nor is there any remedy, either by law or constitu- 
tion, for mobs have no ears. Sometimes a State 
looks with pride on its great numbers for defense; 
but unless these masses are enlightened, they are only 
a terrible depository of power, awaiting some ambi- 
tious politician, who will wield them to his own in- 
terest and to the disturbance of the country. The 
great danger to our American government is not so 
much from our rulers as from an ignorant people 
themselves. In this we differ widely from most other 
governments. Without intelligence enough to see the 
importance of good government, patriotism is an 
empty name, and loyalty as uncertain and changeable 
as the wind. 

The bold counselor of Derrynane once said, " He 
that would be a good defender of his country must 
have a warm nest at home." Public sentiment must 



206 



LECTURES. 



be so enlightened that the saying of Lysander be 
condemned before it can be carried into effect. Ly- 
sander, when told that it was unbecoming the de- 
scendants of Hercules to adopt such artful expedients, 
turned it off with a jest, and said, "Where the lion's 
skin falls short, it must be eked out with a fox's." 

If we should be asked what kind of education 
we recommend, we answer, that which will reach the 
most persons, and which is of the most utilitarian 
kind. Not a few sons of the rich, or the royal, but 
the whole people. We believe in compulsory general 
education, just as we believe in compulsory sanitary 
laws to prevent pestilence, or vaccination to prevent 
the spread of small-pox ; for ignorance in masses of 
people, with the horrible mixtures of superstitions and 
deceptions that follow in its train, are worse than small- 
pox or fever. Wise legislators will see this, and pro- 
vide for it as they would for any danger to the people. 

It may be said that education itself can be abused, 
and turned by bad men to selfish purposes. We ad- 
mit this ; but, like many other good things, we must 
have it, even with some dangers. Education will no 
more make men good than wealth will make them 
liberal; but it will enable them to be good, and be 
most favorable to virtue. History shows that gen- 
eral education is most favorable to religion, morality, 
truth, justice, mercy, good order, good society, honor, 
self-respect, civilization, loyalty, patriotism, safety, 
and peace; and is an absolute sine qua non of a 
republican form of government. 



CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. 207 



IV. 

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE OF THE 
TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE * 

We do not found the doctrines of Scripture on 
circumstantial evidence, but it may be sometimes so 
strong and varied as to amount to positive proof; it 
is so considered in courts of justice, and in treatises 
on evidence. The Old Book has often been put upon 
its trial, and if it can have a fair trial and thorough 
investigation, it always gains friends. I hope to 
show that, unless the inspired writers had been in- 
fluenced by something superhuman, they, in their 
circumstances, would have made mistakes, many and 
great, that would be the sport and ridicule of modern 
science, if, indeed, it would have any believers at all, 
or any to continue its publication. 

"We wish to have it particularly known that this is 
the oldest book in the world. No scholar will ques- 
tion this. Even its greatest opposers have not ques- 
tioned it. We have other old books and doctrines; 
let us compare them. We have a general knowledge 
of the old books of China, India, Persia, Egypt, 

* Delivered before the students of the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- 
versity, in Williams-street Church, Delaware, Ohio, November 
19, 1871. 



208 



LECTURES. 



Greece, and Rome. And we know that some of these 
authors were remarkable thinkers. But how about 
the truth of their doctrines now ? No scholar would 
think of adopting them; and modern science would 
uncover their naked deformities, so that they would 
be ridiculous. And we find nothing that was con- 
structed in ancient times that bears comparison with 
things of modern contrivance. This also applies to 
books, more particularly than any thing else, with 
one single exception — the Bible. 

Let us look at some of the commonest things that 
were made in ancient times. Their coat we would 
call a blanket ; their shoes were moccasins ; their 
bottles we would call bags ; their carriages we would 
call carts, and poor, clumsy ones, that would make 
our children laugh; their windows we would call 
holes in the wall ; their books we would call non- 
sense ; their religion we would call superstition. And 
many things common in those days we would have no 
name for. Some of them have been preserved in 
museums and collections of antiquarians. In the 
tower of London may be seen all kinds of military 
armor of ancient times, heavy and clumsy, and no 
way to compare with modern inventions. 

Now, this inferiority of books and implements 
was not for want of great men. The mention of 
some of the men that lived in those times will show 
that they had great thinkers through all those dark 
ages. You may begin with Belus, and come on down 
the ages, mentioning Confucius, Thales, Socrates, 



CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. 



209 



Plato. Epicurus, and Aristotle. We retain their 
books, not for their truth, but for their genius. 2so 
one would now think of adopting their doctrines. 
Whether they write on cosmology, theology, anthro- 
pology, astronomy, or chemistry, they continually 
go astray. This is especially so in chemistry and 
astronomy, for oxygen was not yet discovered, nor 
the Copernican system yet known, or, if heard of, not 
generally believed. So wild and out of date are all 
those books that Ave don't read them expecting any 
thing but their exploded theories. There is no excep- 
tion from Thales to the Christian era, and even later. 

But in all the allusions in Scripture to nature — 
and there are many — no such gross mistakes are 
made. Could it be possible for the Bible to be written 
at such a period, and by men, a majority of whom 
were not learned, and thus differ from all other books 
and all other things that were made in those times? 
Only this one book survives the changes that civiliza- 
tion and experience have made. It not only survives 
the test, but is new and fresh as when it was written, 
and is prominent in the schools of the learned, and 
embraced by the best minds in the world. 

If it should be said that it shows signs of error, 
we will examine this matter, or we will admit verbal 
and seeming contradictions, because language is arti- 
ficial, and because the manners and customs of ancient 
times were so different from what they are now, that, 
without considerable knowledge of them, we can not 
always know what is meant. And then we have it by 



210 



LECTURES. 



translation— we mean the common people— and it is 
well known that any translation destroys much of the 
original purpose of the writer. Every language has 
its own peculiar idioms that can not always be con- 
veyed to another. But few persons will take the 
time and pains to examine a difficult passage. If 
such an aversion was shown toward difficult problems 
in science, not another discovery would ever be made 
to the end of time. 

That verbal contradictions must arise from the 
very nature of language is evident to any philologist. 
To give an instance : the Bible says, " There is not 
a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth 
not," Then, in several other places, it speaks of per- 
sons that were just— such as Noah. Now, to those 
that hear nothing but the sound, and do n't see the 
sense of the two kinds of passages, that looks like a 
contradiction. On this plan Thomas Paine made his 
book, seemingly smart and witty, and highly pleasing 
to those that hope the Bible is not true. But, what 
are the facts ? In the first passage the writer was 
speaking of man in his natural depraved state, of 
whom it may be well sold, "not a just man;" but the 
other passages were referring to men that were saints, 
justified by the Spirit of God— quite a different sub- 
ject. Indeed, you could hardly find two subjects 
more different than saints and sinners. One class of 
texts refer to depraved men, and the other to saved 
men ; and so many passages may be shown like this. 
One of the most noted passages mentioned as 



CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. 211 

contrary to modern science is that in Joshua, where 
the sun is spoken of as standing still. It is said by 
skeptics that this is an intimation that the writer be- 
lieved that the sun goes round the world; but how 
unfair such a conclusion, for any other mode of ex- 
pression would have been unintelligible at that age, 
and then it is a form of expression that we use 
ourselves continually. Our word solstice, now used 
by all astronomers, is from sol, the sun, and sto, to 
stand, conveying the idea that the sun stands still at 
the solstitial points. Our almanacs, made by learned 
men, say, sun up and sun down ; the sun rises, and 
the sun sets. Now, suppose we were to build a college 
or university in this nineteenth century, and were to 
deposit numerous literary and scientific documents in 
the corner-stone, and, among the rest, a calendar for 
A. D. 1875; and suppose in a thousand years an 
earthquake should shake this building down, and the 
corner-stone be laid open to the inspection of the 
scholars of 2875, and they should find our calendar, 
and on examination should read where it says, the 
" sun sets" and the " sun rises." Now, would they 
be justified in declaring that the scholars of 1875 
were ignorant of the Copernican system ? This is an 
exact parallel to the case of the sun standing still. 

But, do the Scriptures refer to those subjects often 
enough to show any opinion on them ? We answer, 
the Bible refers to more subjects than any book in the 
world, except Webster 's Dictionary. But, to be more 
particular, let us see how it stands. It refers to God, 



212 LECTURES. 

r 

creation, angels, men, devils, matter, spirit, time, eter- 
nity, metaphysics, ethics, law, government, politics, 
morals, philosophy, geography, chronology, history, 
animals, plants, earth, heaven, life, death, and immor- 
tality. It is true that many of these are only allu- 
sions ; but it is in making allusions that writers and 
speakers betray their ignorance. How common it is, 
even yet, for a man to allude to some science he does 
not understand, and notice how soon he betrays his 
ignorance. Can any one believe that writers living 
at such times, and alluding to such a variety of sub- 
jects, would produce any thing but glaring mistakes? 

Another attempt to show that Scripture is con- 
trary to science, is the oft-repeated saying that the 
Scriptures teach that the earth is six thousand years 
old. It is strange that men will stick to this objection, 
when it has been denied by the best judges a thou- 
sand times. The Scriptures teach no such thing. 
The Bible says that "in the beginning, God created 
the heaven and the earth;" but it does not say when 
the beginning was. It does say the earth had a be- 
ginning, but don't say when. Most of the ancients 
say it had no beginning, or that it was not created. 
The Bible intimates that man was created about six 
thousand years ago, and that he was created last of 
all that was created on the earth ; and instead of this 
being contrary to geology, this agrees most strikingly 
with it ; for while men have dug down into the graves 
of the dead generations of the ages, man is never 
found very low — never beyond where six thousand 



CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. 213 



years might leave his bones. Great and long-con- 
tinued have been the efforts of our opponents to find 
phalanges, vertebrae, or patellae of man, down in the 
rocky book of old earth's record, but never a bone. 

Now, as to the earth's being created, or as to the 
truth of the Scripture that says that the "things which 
are seen were not made of things which do appear." 
Let us subject this to an examination, and compare 
it with the cosmology of those that write without rev- 
elation. Since the discovery of affinity, and definite 
proportions, and combining numbers, and the forma- 
tion of our nomenclature, the properties of matter 
have been so clearly defined and described that it 
amounts to a demonstration that they must have been 
created by a wise being. Ultimate atoms could not 
exist from eternity with all their curious marks of 
design without a designer. They as certainly show 
design as a watch does ; they are so marked and uni- 
form, and their laws so wonderful, that we are com- 
pelled to believe that infinite wisdom so created them. 

It may be said, however, that matter itself is 
eternal, but its properties were added by the Creator. 
But this statement will not bear investigation, for if 
we inquire what are the properties of matter, the 
answer is, extension, impenetrability, gravity, attrac- 
tion, and so forth. Now, suppose you take all of 
these away, and what is left? Absolutely nothing 
that you can conceive of. As well might you take 
man's soul and body away, and then look for the man. 
Matter with no properties is not conceivable, for there 



214 



LECTURES. 



is no mode of apprehending matter but by its proper- 
ties. This is true of the most subtle things, even the 
i imponderables — how much more the earth. Every 
atom of a simple body, in its fixed and curious laws, 
is a standing argument that it was the work of de- 
sign. Take an atom of iron, which will combine with 
one of oxygen, producing protoxide of iron definitely ; 
take two of iron and three of oxygen, and you have 
peroxide of iron. Now, these will combine in no 
other way to produce these compounds. If not in 
the exact ratio, they will not combine at all. Or, in the 
case of water : oxygen eight, hydrogen one. If either 
should be in excess, just so far they will be free. So 
in innumerable instances of combinations these exact 
and unvarying principles are noticed, and whoever 
studies it, will not fail to see design as clearly as in 
the most curious organizations. By design we mean 
intentional, and for a purpose, in opposition to chance — 
made for an end, or plan, to do, or show something 
that could not be done or shown, without an intelli- 
gence before it and above it, to order or make the 
plan. We conclude, therefore, that every grain of 
sand or tiny crystal in the whole earth is a standing 
argument that the " things that are seen are not 
made of the things which do appear," and that the 
Scripture account does not differ with facts in science, 
but perfectly, and often strikingly, agrees therewith. 

It will be interesting to notice certain modes of 
expressions in the third chapter of second Peter with 
regard to the dissolution of the world, which will 



CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. 



215 



also show that the divine writers write as if thev 
knew the chemistry of modern times, which, of course, 
they could not. It is said " the elements shall melt 
with fervent heat," " and the heavens shall pass away 
with a great noise." Now, at that age of the world, 
the elements were not understood ; especially was the 
world ignorant of the fact that oxygen is the greatest 
and most considerable substance in the world, and 
that it is also the greatest supporter of combustion. 
Had the writers known the exact laws of nature, as 
now taught in modern chemistry and natural philos- 
ophy, they could not more accurately, in a few words, 
have made a statement of what would take place. 
Of course, we can not know precisely how the world 
will be dissolved or be destroyed, but it is reasonable 
to infer that it will be in the most direct way. * Now, 
if the present elements were to be let loose, with 
their known natures, the result would be exactly as 
the Scriptures describe. One of the modes of pro- 
ducing the most fervent heat is by these very ele- 
ments. Oxygen and hydrogen make a heat that 
will melt any thing, and the "'passing away;' or 
motion, denotes the power to move any thing, agree- 
ing exactly with the facts, when these explosives are 
set on fire. And then the significant expression, 
" with a great noise." Now, it is a fact that there is 
no way to produce such a noise more directly and 
terribly than the combination and ignition of these 
elements. Take, for instance, a small soap-bubble of 
oxygen and hydrogen that would only weigh the 



216 



LECTURES. 



fraction of a grain, and when detonated in the open air 
without confinement, it is as the sound of a musket. 
What, then, must be the "great noise" of the "pass- 
ing away " of the melting elements of the whole 
heavens ! 

We do not cite these texts to show any thing but 
how closely the Scripture writers go to nature, with- 
out knowing it themselves. In this case they say 
the world shall be burned up; but they do not say 
annihilated. At that age, and for successive ages, 
until science showed the contrary, it was thought that 
w r ater, of which a great portion of the earth is com- 
posed, would not burn ; and, formerly, that was urged 
as an objection to the general conflagration. Now, 
the objection is heard no more. We conclude, then, 
unless the divine writers had been overruled by a 
mind that knew all things, they must have made 
great and numerous blunders that modern discovery 
would expose. After all this, we exclaim: "The 
Word of the Lord is true from the beginning " and " the 
Word of the Lord is tried!" 

"Eternal truth, on thy enduring page, 
Unhurt by time, and undestroyed by age, 
Shines forth thy glorious light. Mercy and grace, 
Blending their smiles, beam from thy radiant face." 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 217 



V. 

REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL* 

At the laving of the corner-stone for the new 
Catholic church, a few days ago, Archbishop Purcell, 
of Cincinnati, made an attack on Protestants in gen- 
eral, and Methodists in particular. And as a major- 
ity of his audience were Protestants, and felt them- 
selves misrepresented, I have yielded to the advice of 
several persons to appear for the defense. While 
Protestants listened to hear- themselves ridiculed, there 
were many things they were pleased to see. They 
are always pleased with the contrast between the 
Catholic Church and their own. On that day they 
felt that the pomp and display that was made with 
guns and gold-leaf; the brass band and holy water 
contrasted finely with the unostentatious forms of 
their own faith. The military company was invited 
to come and " assist in laying the corner-stone." 
The firing was also by special request. We now see 

*Bishop Purcell, at the laying of the corner-stone of the Cath- 
olic Church, in the city of Lancaster, Ohio, made an attack on 
the Protestant ministry, comparing them to Korah, Dathan, and 
Abiram. This reply was prepared at the request of the Prot- 
estant ministers residing in Lancaster, and delivered August 
2$ 1859. 

19 



218 



LECTURES. 



that it is not a Protestant fabrication, as we have 
heard, that they always lay their corner-stones at 
the point of the bayonet. They are a fighting Church. 
This display may affect some minds, but unless we 
greatly misjudge of the people in this land of schools, 
the whole affair was in very bad taste. I hope no 
member of the military company will think that I 
object to their being there. I do not; the picture 
would not have been complete without the guns. 

One of the first things the Bishop said, was, that 
he did not preach politics. This was wise, for, surely, 
if he preached the politics of Home, it would even 
be in worse taste than the parade of guns, trumpets, 
and drums, for the world knows that the Pope wears 
a triple crown, and that the union of Church and State 
has been their politics since the days of Peter the 
Hermit ; and to the great scandal of religion, many of 
the bloody wars of Europe, for more than a thousand 
years, were to gain temporal power; and now the tes- 
timony of our American travelers, together with va- 
rious other evidence, goes to show that the holy 
father and head of the Catholic Church, is a temporal 
despot, and never rides out in his own city but when 
surrounded with armed soldiers. Armed men are 
never off their guard around his person.* What 
kind of politics is this, to say nothing of the relig- 
ion? Though the different political parties of this 
country may wrangle ever so much about different 

* Since this discourse was delivered, the Pope has lost nearly- 
all his temporal power. 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 219 



questions, yet they will not favor Catholic politics. 
Well, did the Bishop ignore the whole subject of pol- 
itics? How would the Catholic doctrines against free 
discussion, as taught in Borne, have suited on this oc- 
casion? We know that he will acknowledge that 
there is no freedom of speech, or the press, there. 
It is true that there has been an arrangement recently 
made by the British to have Protestant preaching to 
foreigners, particularly English residents, but under 
the most circumscribed and isolated manner. No 
Catholic may attend this preaching. The house is 
guarded by the Pope's soldiers. Bishop M'llvaine 
preached to this little congregation not long ago, and 
testified to the surrounding guards. It is a crime of 
no common color to print or circulate any paper or 
book in Rome without the sanction of the Church. 
Even in this country, as far as their little circle of 
power extends, you see something like it ; hence you 
may open any Catholic book, and you will see that 
it is published under the approbation or sanction of 
some Church official. 

Bishop Purcell said the Catholic Church relied 
alone on God, and asked no favor of government, in- 
timating that Protestants received favors. Now, does 
the Bishop forget that they have asked favors repeat- 
edly ? Will he deny that they asked a portion of 
the Ohio School Fund set off to them? Will any 
man show that our General or State Governments 
show more favors to one denomination than another? 
He stated that the property of the Catholic Church 



220 



LECTURES. 



was greater than any other in Ohio; that twenty- 
five years ago there was not one Catholic church in 
this State; that this prosperity was proof positive 
that it was the true Church. But surely the Bishop 
was absent-minded. Even the Methodist branch of 
the Protestant Church has been prospered more than 
they. According to the last census of the United 
States, there were thirty-one times as many Prot- 
estant as catholic Churches in this nation, and in 
Ohio twenty-seven times as many. The Protestant 
churches would accommodate 13,095,117 persons; 
the Catholic, only 620,950. The Protestant churches 
will hold more than twenty times as many. I do not 
compare numbers to show that Protestants are any 
better on that account, but that the Bishop's calcula- 
tion was about twenty-seven times too high! He fur- 
ther stated that Protestants were " abandoning their 
churches," and his argument w T as, that an intelligent 
gentleman from this place had been to Boston, and 
went to hear Dr. Channing (Unitarian) preach, but 
another preached in his stead; that the hearers sat 
carelessly in their fine pews, and the house was poorly 
filled. The same gentleman, on his way to his hotel, 
saw a Catholic church, and it was full, and some 
kneeling around the door in the mud. This showed 
that Protestants were abandoning their churches and 
Catholics prospering. Now, this is hardly a show of 
argument. The small society of Unitarians, who are 
hardly Protestants at all, are chosen to represent us. 
And then who does not see the real cause of the 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 



221 



overflowing of the Catholic church? They were 
shipped over from Europe so fast that there was 
not room for them. Is this increase? Then taking 
money out of one pocket to put in the other is 
prosperity. 

The Catholic Church always delight to make a 
display. They build a few large churches in the 
cities, nearly neglecting the country, while most of 
the Protestants build in the country as well as the 
city; and since the day of Pentecost, they were 
never so prosperous as now. Romanists boast of 
great numbers abroad; but we know that in religion, 
or even civilization, a majority of them are but little 
better than pagans — Mexico, for instance. 

The Bishop affirmed that Protestants believe that 
all who do not hold to the Bible will be damned. He 
also stated that there were hundreds of years that 
there was no Bible ; that immediately after Christ 
these books were not collected. "What madness," 
says he. Now, Protestants believe no such thing; 
and, in the second place, he knows that the people had 
the Scriptures of the Old Testament till the New 
was given. It was said of them, of Berea, that they 
were more noble than they of Thessalonica, because 
they searched the Scriptures. (Acts xvii, 11.*) Other 
proofs could be given of the circulation of the Word 
of God extensively among the people. It is evi- 
dent that this part of his discourse was intended 

*A11 my Bible quotations in this discourse will be taken from 
the Douay Bible 



222 



LECTURES. 



to show that if they could do without the Bible then, 
they can now. Indeed, the Bishop said expressly 
that such were the traditions of the Church, that, if it 
had pleased God, they could do without the Bible. 
This agrees well with Romanists in England, for the 
British and Foreign Bible Society offered to print and 
circulate the Catholic Bible for them for nothing, and 
they objected. The Bishop stated that every Catholic 
had a Bible, or some books that had Bible texts in 
them. But will he deny that before a member can 
have one he must have a written permit from the 
Church ? (See Council of Trent.) If it is otherwise 
here, then the unalterable Church has altered. He 
further stated that all the doctrines of the Catholic 
Church are explicitly taught in the Bible. This is 
very strange. Will he pretend that the Bible teaches 
that it is a great sin to take the Sacrament without 
having fasted from midnight? Will he show where 
the Bible teaches that the wine for Sacrament is to 
be mixed with water, (Dr. Milner acknowledges that 
this is by tradition.) Where does he find celibacy of 
the ministry, or a " Hail Mary, Mother of God," or 
the doctrine of indulgences or penance as dosed out 
by a priest. 

The Bible says, " Thou shalt worship the Lord 
thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." But here 
is a prayer to the Virgin Mary. I quote from the 
Golden Manual, page 74. The title of the page is, 
"Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary" "0 blessed 
Virgin Mary, unspotted Mother of my God and 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 223 



Savior Jesus Christ, be thou a mother to me, since 
thy adorable son has been pleased to call us all his 
brethren, and to recommend us all to thee in the 
person of his beloved disciple. Take me and mine 
under thy holy protection," etc. Then follows a 
" prayer to saints and angels." But they will say, We 
do n't worship them. I answer, if praying to a being 
or thing is not worship, what is it? What more did 
they do to Baal or the golden calf? They could make 
as good a plea for the calf as Romanists can for saint 
worship. They knew the calf was not God, for they 
had just made it — it was a shrine at which Aaron 
was to inquire, because, they said, " The man Moses, 
we wist not what has become of him." They w T anted 
some medium through which to worship God. So, 
Catholics want some mediator besides the " One Me- 
diator," Christ the Lord. The Bible says positively 
there is but one. There is one God and one me- 
diator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 
Tim. ii, 5.) To pray to any being but God is idola- 
try, whether as a shrine or mediator. Peter w r ould 
not let Cornelius worship him. The angel would not 
let John worship him. The doctrine of saint and 
angel worship is as absurd as it is unscriptural — it 
implies the omnipresence of the saints. How, can a 
finite being be in England and America at the same 
time? Yes, ten thousand places at the same time! I 
would have no objection to ask the Virgin to pray 
for me if she was here or could hear me ; but as I 
have no account, even from the Pope, of her omni- 



224 



LECTURES. 



presence, I could have no faith. Perhaps, after all, 
I should beg pardon for saying there is no Scripture 
for praying to saints. I forgot the parable of the 
rich man in hell praying to father Abraham for a 
drop of holy water to cool his parched tongue. But 
did he get his request? I can say, at least, that 
there is no case of answer from saint or angel any 
more than from Baal. 

There is but one form of prayer given in the New 
Testament— the Lord's Prayer. "After this man- 
ner therefore pray ye:" "Our Father who art in 
heaven—" no hail Mary, mother of God, in it. The 
Scriptures teach that, we are not to use vain repeti- 
tions in prayer, as the heathens do. (Matthew, vi, 7.) 
But Catholic books abound with them. But for the 
narrow limits of this discourse, I would quote, — see 
" Golden Manual " in various places. Indeed, some 
blessings are obtained by saying certain prayers over 
so many times. This is borrowed from the poor 
heathen, who, to facilitate the matter, sometimes have 
a wheel that turns very fast, and every rotation 
counts for one prayer. The Catholics have something 
corresponding to this in the way of counting their 
beads. In their books whole pages are taken up with 
repetitions, such as "Lord, have mercy; Lord, have 
mercy;" "Christ, have mercy; Christ, have mercy;" 
" St. Anna, bulwark of the Church;" " St. Anna, refuge 
of sinners," etc. The Bible is always made second- 
ary to the traditions of the Church. Let any one 
turn to the Catholic Bible and read where the apostle 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 225 



refers to those who " forbid to marry and abstain 
from meats" (1 Timothy iv, 3), and ask how any 
Church, with such a book in their hands, can teach 
celibacy, and keeping the Church from meat. And 
in the next chapter we read, " It behooveth therefore 
a bishop to be blameless, the husband of one wife, 
. . . one that ruleth well his own house, having 
his children in subjection. But if a man know not 
how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of 
the Church of God ?" Here is a married bishop with 
children and a household, and governing them. 

But the Catholic Church says that celibacy is a 
holier state # than matrimony ; but, if so, it is strange 
that Enoch, who walked with God three hundred 
years and had the testimony that he pleased God, 
should be married younger than any of the Patriarchs. 
With regard to the former text, they say it applied 
to the Gnostics and other sects that forbid to marry. 
But if it was wrong for the Gnostics, is it right for 
the Catholics ? A poor Catholic once discovered that 
his priest was guilty of the same thing that was de- 
nied to him ; but when he told the priest of it, he was 
answered thus : " Do n't do as I do, but do as I tell 
you/' There is no more Scripture for the Popeship 
of Peter than there is for the celibacy of the ministry. 
If our Lord had not taught their equality, and we 
were left to infer from what is said of them, we would 
think that Paul was the chief, for he withstood Peter 
to the face, for he was to blame. (See 2 Gal. xi, 14.) 
Moreover, St. Paul wrote more than all the other 



226 



LECTURES. 



apostles ; he preached more, traveled more, suffered 
more, and was far more learned ; he wrought more 
miracles, and was exalted to the third heaven. On 
one occasion a request was made that two of the dis- 
ciples be permitted to have superiority; but our Lord 
forbid it, and the other apostles were displeased with 
it. (See Matthew xx, 26.) 

The bishop boasted of the unity of the Catholic 
Church, while the Protestant is divided. In this he 
greatly presumed on the ignorance of his hearers. 
Nothing is easier than to show schism, discord, and 
division in his Church. In the "Golden Manual" 
(approved by Bishop Hughes), page 1017, we have 
a list of Popes, from Peter to Pius IX, with dates, 
etc. Here Ave see that sometimes there was no Pope 
at all for a long time — in one instance for nearly 
three years. Sometimes there were anti-popes — some 
Popes were deposed. Sometimes two would claim 
the office at once, and a fierce conflict ensued. These 
strifes, however, was nothing for them, but it would 
be shocking to us. I will now quote a few sentences 
as found mixed in with this list of Popes : 

"Lawrence, the Archdeacon, fourth Anti-pope." 
" Bioscenes, fifth Anti-pope." "A schism because of 
a contested election in which Peter and Theodore both 
claimed." "A similar schism, because of the claims 
of Theodore and Paschal." " Constantine, an Anti- 
pope. ' " Sergius and Boniface caused troubles; Bon- 
iface 's omitted by some, who consider his appoint- 
ment irregular; by others, because of the short 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 227 



period between his election and death." "Christopher, 
who took forcible possession of the See, was ejected 
by his successor." " Boniface II, Anti-pope." " Bene- 
dict X, doubtful." " Three anti-popes quickly follow 
Gilbert." "Maurice, Archbishop of Braga, Anti- 
pope." "Victor IY, Guy of Cremona and John, 
Anti-pope." "Vacancy for two years and nine 
months." "Vacancy for two years and one month." 
" Vacancy for two years, three months, and seventeen 
days." "Commencement of the great schism, caused 
by some of the cardinals having retired to Avignon, 
and there declaring that they chose Urban by con- 
straint and under coercion; elected Robert Geneva, 
an anti-pope, who took the name of Clement VII, 
and he was supported by several princes." 

"Deposed at Pisa." [Gregory XII.] "The 
Council of Constance, in order to terminate the schism 
and restore the peace of the Church, required of 
the Pope and his competitors to resign his right and 
their pretensions. Gregory XII, who had been de- 
posed at Pisa ; gave his formal resignation. John 
XXIII hesitating, was deposed, and Peter de Luna 
was declared destitute of authority. The See was 
then declared vacant for two years and five months." 

" Clement VIII, Anti-pope, succeeded to Peter de 
Luna in 1424, and in 1429 he made his submission to 
Martin, and thus terminated the great schism." 

I could quote further, but this will show whether 
the waters w T ere even or not. Verily, if this is unity, 
the Kilkenny cats ought to be called pet lambs. If 



228 



LECTURES. 



you ask a Catholic what became of the unbroken suc- 
cession and divine right of that one Church, he will 
tell you that though there was a wicked Pope on the 
throne, still his office was good, and, as the successor 
of Peter, he was infallible. This puts us in mind of 
an old anecdote concerning a man that held the office 
of both a bishop and duke. A poor, but pious man, 
asked him how he could swear, being a bishop. "0," 
says he, " I am also a duke ; I do n't swear as a 
bishop, I swear as a duke." "But," said the man, 
" when the devil comes for the duke, what will become 
of the bishop?" Now, then, when the devil comes 
for these contentious fighting men, what becomes of 
the Holy Father, Infallibility, Unity, Divine right, 
and Tradition? 

Dr. Milner unwittingly acknowledges the great 
divisions that took place, for, when speaking of the 
sacrament, he says " the Greek, the Russian, Ar- 
menian, the Nestorian, the Eutychian, the Coptic, 
the Ethiopian, etc., all of which firmly maintain, and 
ever have maintained, as well since as before their 
respective defection from us, the whole collection of 
the seven sacraments." (End of Controversy, page 
154.) Yet, in the face of all this, the Bishop tells us 
his Church is infallible, and never splits. 

Dr. Milner boasts of the unity of the Church; 
says he, "Find a Catholic where you will, from Ireland 
to Chili, and from Canada to India, and his doctrine 
is the same," and mentions some of them; but the con- 
cluding remark is amusing to Protestants. It is this : 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 229 

"At all events, the Catholics, if properly interro- 
gated, will confess their belief in one comprehensive 
article ; namely, this : ' I believe whatever the Holy 
Catholic Church believes and teaches? " (End of Con- 
troversy, page 132.) This is what is called in Italy 
Carbonaria Fides, or Collier's Faith. A collier was 
asked, "What do you believe ?" " I believe what the 
Church believes." "But, what does the Church be- 
lieve?" "The Church believes what I believe." 
"Well, then, what is it that you and the Church be- 
lieve V " Why, we both believe the same thing." 
This is Romanism unadulterated and undivided, and 
agrees with the above. 

In another place Dr. Milner boasts of the unity 
of the Church, as follows : " Find a Catholic where 
you will, whether on the plains of Paraguay, or in 
the palaces of Pekin, each simple Catholic, in point 
of ecclesiastical economy, is subject to his pastor; 
each pastor submits to his bishop, and each bishop 
acknowledges the supremacy of the successor of St. 
Peter. (End of Controversy, page 134.) 

All this shows that they have surrendered the 
right of private judgment, and it is praise rather to 
be given to good cattle than men. Such men have 
nothing to split about ; they have packed up their 
reason in a traveling-bag, and are following one an- 
other, docile as donkeys. A noble, enlightened hu- 
man intellect would no more join such a procession 
than Edward Everett would hire out to the Hot- 
tentots, or Elihu Burritt beat the drum for the 



230 



LECTURES. 



Mokololos. Catholics delight to tell us that theirs is 
the oldest Church, and that Protestants are mere 
things of yesterday. But, suppose they could prove 
the great age of their Church. There are old des- 
potisms that claim to have laid their foundations long 
before St. Peter was born. There is old pagan China, 
and old Japan ; but who thinks of mentioning this in 
favor of their goodness ? Suppose they could prove 
that they were as old as the devil, still we inquire, 
what are they noiv? Just as we judge of Satan, who 
was an angel of light long before any Church had an 
existence — but what is he now ? And it may be 
allowed that if an angel fell, a Church composed of 
human beings may fall. 

The old absurdity of the real presence of the 
body and blood of Christ in the sacrament was ad- 
vanced by the Bishop. The language of their ritual 
is, that after the priest consecrates the bread and 
wine, that it turns into " the body and blood of Christ, 
whole and entire," " Soul, body, and divinity." (Gen- 
eral Catechism.) The Trent Catechism says, "His 
bones, muscles, and nerves." They are required to 
believe and say what is contrary to their reason and 
their senses. Before communion they are required 
to do what is entitled, "Making an Act of Faith;" 
u My Savior Jesus Christ, I believe as firmly as if I 
saw it with my own eyes, that it is thyself I am go- 
ing to receive in receiving the blessed sacrament." 

They say that Christ performed the first mass. 
He must, therefore, have given his disciples his own 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 231 



flesh and blood to eat and drink while he was yet 
alive. Eleven men must have eaten up the Lord 
"whole and entire," "body, soul, and divinity," 
"bones, muscles, and nerves." And his human body 
must be nearly omnipresent now, for he has been 
eaten up thousands of times ever since. 

If this doctrine is true, every Catholic is a canni- 
bal. Even a Hindoo could answer the monstrous 
absurdity. When a priest was once going through 
the motions of consecration, a Hindoo heard him say, 
"Hoc est corpus meum — this is my body," and, turn- 
ing to a missionary, said, " We Hindoos are bad 
enough; but not so bad as these idolaters. Here 
their priest makes a little bread,. and then, by words, 
they turn it into their God, and then they eat up their 
God. We Hindoos make gods as well as these ; but 
we never eat up our gods — they must be savage 
men." A young Indian was saying his Catechism to 
a priest after mass. " How many Gods are there ?" 
said the priest. "None," said the boy. "How?" 
said the priest, " is that all you have learned from 
my instructions?" "Why," said the lad, "there was 
a God yesterday, but you know as well as I that 
he was eaten up." 

But the Bishop quoted the Scripture, " This is my 
body," with all the confidence of an axiom. Of course, 
the disciples knew what he meant ; that it represented 
his body, for his real body, whole and entire, was 
before them. This form of expression is, and always 
has been, very common. Suppose I ask a Catholic 



232 



LECTURES. 



priest to let me see the pictures and images in his 
Church. We pass up the aisle near the pulpit, and I 
ask what is that over the altar ? he would say, " That 
is our Savior." And what is that to one side of the 
altar ? " That is the Virgin Mary," and so on. Now 
I would know that he did not mean to tell me that 
that was the very Savior, or that that was the real Vir- 
gin ; he would mean that they represent them. Christ 
says nothing about changing the bread and wine into 
his own body. He calls the wine the " fruit of the 
vine." The idea of drinking human blood is revolt- 
ing to any mind — J ew, Christian, or Mohammedan ; 
and nothing but full-grown superstition can make it a 
part of a creed. 

The whole ordinance is perverted from the design 
of our Lord. He gave the cup to his disciples, and 
said, "Drink ye all of it." But the priest drinks 
that himself. They mix it with water without any 
authority. Three Evangelists and one Apostle men- 
tion that Christ "broke" the bread — "my body 
which was broken for you " — or " he took bread and 
broke it, and gave unto them." But they make a 
wafer and do n't break it at all. They instruct the 
member to hold his head and hands a certain way, 
and put out his tongue till the priest drops the wafer 
on the tip of his tongue ; then, if the wafer gets fast 
in the roof of his mouth, he is in no case to touch it 
with his hand, but to loosen it with his tongue and 
swallow it whole. (See Catechism.) All this is fini- 
cal in the extreme, and unworthy of rational beings. 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 233 



It makes us feel as if we were reading of things in 
the dark ages. Well did Pope Gregory say that 
" ignorance is the mother of devotion." 

The tenacity with which they adhere to this 
dogma is seen in the mass book, where the priest is 
required to do some things that would match any rite 
of the pagan. If a spider or fly should get into the 
wine (blood) by accident, the priest must swallow it; 
but if he feels that he can 't, by reason of nausea, he 
must wash the spider or fly with wine, and burn it, 
and cast the ashes into holy ground. If, by any 
means, the priest should have to vomit after sacra- 
ment, and throw up the holy body and blood, he must 
swallow it again. If, however, he feels that it is im- 
possible, from nausea, he may pick out the parts, 
keep them in a holy place, etc. 

If this doctrine of tran substantiation is true, then 
the priest works a miracle every time; and, indeed, 
they say they do. Let us see, then, how they will 
compare with the Bible miracles. They agree with 
the senses. Where Christ turned water into wine, it 
looked and tasted like wine. When he raised Laza- 
rus, he did not still appear like a dead man. When 
the lame man was healed, his feet and ankle-bones 
did not remain crooked. To believe in transubstan- 
tiation is to believe one of the most palpable absurdi- 
ties that was ever proposed to man, whether saint or 
savage. Indeed it would puzzle John Locke himself 
to state a better example of absurdity, for it is to 
believe that p part is equal to the whole — " whole and 

20 



234 



LECTURES. 



entire." It ought to be called trans-Jweus-pocus, in- 
stead of transubstantiation. I doubt whether the 
black Bushman, in the interior of Africa, has any 
thing that would require such ripe credulity. Is it 
any wonder that Catholic countries swarm with de- 
fiant infidels? But for such monstrous doctrines as 
these, Paine's Age of Reason would never have seen 
the light. Voltaire himself might have been an emi- 
nent Christian had he not lived in such a country. 
It is true such men ought to distinguish between true 
and false religion; but they will not. It is seldom 
that you find a real open infidel in a Protestant coun- 
try, because the faith that is preached is not loaded 
with unreasonable dogmas. We learn from unques- 
tioned authority that a very large portion of the peo- 
ple in all Catholic countries are infidels. 

The Bishop had a good time, in his own estima- 
tion, over the idea that priests do not take money for 
forgiving sins. But let any man read their books on 
merit, on indulgences, or on penance, and though they 
do not now, as in former times, fix a price for certain 
sins, it amounts to the same principle. The priest 
can fix what penance he pleases, whether a hundred 
prayers or a hundred cents ; or he can withhold in- 
dulgences if he chooses. He claims to have the keys 
of heaven, and his favor is life and his frown is 
curses. His favorite thunderbolt is a perverted text 
from John xx, 23: " Whose sins ye remit (forgive) 
they are forgiven, and whose ye retain they are re- 
tained." This he quotes on nearly all occasions, and 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 235 



claims the right which only belongs to God. There 
is a lex non scripta here that the Bishop's purple robe 
can never conceal. We do know that poor hired girls 
give sums for the Church that they are poorly able 
to afford, and Catholics leave large amounts of prop- 
erty under the impression that their souls will be 
helped out of purgatory. 

The Bishop introduced some simpleton that he 
called a Methodist, and then had a fine time over his 
conversion to Romanism. I have often seen Meth- 
odists that I thought were a great way below par, 
but I confess that that fellow, if there ever was such 
a fellow, was the most perfect stool-pigeon I have 
ever heard of — he was just as if made to order. Bad 
men, and occasionally a fool, may get into the min- 
istry of any Church ; but I do n't believe the Meth- 
odist Church would ever license such a booby to 
preach the Gospel. I do n't accuse the Bishop of 
lying, but men like him, whose faith has been so cul- 
tivated and stretched, and that for so many years, 
are easily hoaxed. The story is so unnatural, so 
unlike what usually takes place where two men 
argue, especially so zealous a man as his specimen 
appeared to be, that it really requires Catholic cre- 
dulity to believe it just as the Bishop related it. 

Indeed, the Bishop showed great absence of mind 
in using the story also to prove the power of a priest; 
for the case alluded to in the 17th chapter of Deu- 
teronomy, where the priest was to decide, was a civil 
or criminal case, and he decided as a civil magistrate, 



236 



LECTURES. 



as, indeed, the Jewish priests were such. What 
would a Jew say to the Bishop on this point? The 
fact is, he took the sound for the sense, and presumed 
on the ignorance of his audience. If the old Jewish 
ritual is authority, we had better build synagogues 
than Christian churches. While on the subject of the 
power of priests to hold the keys, he compared them 
to Moses and Aaron, and the Protestant clergy to 
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who were swallowed up 
for their wickedness. But if, indeed, we are as bad 
as those men, Catholic bishops are not as good as 
Moses and Aaron, for they prayed for the schis- 
matics. Not so with these, for they curse all that 
diiFer with them. For proof, see the history of the 
Council of Trent throughout, and also hundreds of 
other canons and bulls. I will quote a few, not hav- 
ing time to select those with the longest or sharpest 
horns either. 

" Whosoever shall affirm that a righteous man sins 
if he performs good works with a view to the ever- 
lasting reward, let him be accursed." 

"Whosoever shall affirm that the sacrament was 
instituted sole'y for the purpose of strengthening our 
faith, let him be accursed." 

" Whosoever shall affirm that baptism is indifferent, 
that is, not necessary to salvation, let him be accursed." 

" Whosoever shall deny that in the holy sacra- 
ment of the Eucharist, there are, really and substan- 
tially, the body and blood of our Lord, together with 
his soul and divinity, ... let him be accursed." 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 237 



< ; Whosoever shall affirm that the keys are given to 
the Church to loose only, and not also to bind, and 
that, therefore, when priests impose punishments on 
those who confess, they act in opposition to the de- 
sign of the keys, and against the institution of Christ, 
and to maintain that if the power of the keys be 
denied, both temporal and eternal punishment remain 
to be endured, is to advance a mere fiction, let him 
be accursed." 

The words, " let him he accursed " is a common 
form of terminating a doctrine, and is seen in hun- 
dreds of places in their books. The language of 
Romanism has ever been to curse every body that does 
not believe as they do, and to deny salvation to all 
out of their Church. Some of the Pope's bulls in 
manuscript — the very originals, as hurled at Protest- 
ants, are to be found in England and Germany yet, 
with the seal of the Holy Father officially attached; 
and they are the best specimens of worm-wood and 
gall of any documents that have been preserved. 
They curse the heretic in every possible way that a 
fiendish heart could study — curse him in body, soul, 
and estate, and after death deny him Christian burial. 
Are these men like Moses? It does not take a great 
offense, either, to bring the curse. I suppose that if 
.a Catholic should join the Masons, and stick to it, 
he would be handed over by the priest, who can bind 
as well loose, and the poor fellow, though he wears 
the emblems of F. L, T., he will be excommunicated 
from the Church, and there is no salvation. No 



\ 



238 LECTURES. 

Mason or Odd-fellow can be a Catholic, no matter 
how good a life he may live. 

i As to the wickedness of the Protestant clergy, as 
compared to Korah and his host, is it not a wonder 
the earth has not swallowed them up long ago when 
the Church have cursed every thing with bitter and 
burning curses, and never one prayer for them? 
What a hell- deserving wretch I am this day for call- 
ing in question the stump-speech of the " Most Rev- 
erend Archbishop !" Will he and his priests pray 
for me that I may be arrested in my blindness and 
sacrilege ? We will hear before long, no doubt. 

After all, it is very strange that these great United 
States, having such preachers as Korah, should get 
such a start. For, in the early history of this 
country, especially in the West, it was a rare thing to 
see a Catholic. How will the Bishop account for our 
unparalleled success as a nation with some of these 
Korahites at the head of almost every school and 
college in the land, when Catholic priests were so 
scarce as to be a natural curiosity, as,, indeed, there 
are parts yet where the boys would delight as much 
to see a Roman Catholic priest as to see a rajah from 
Hindoostan, especially if the priests could be dressed 
as fantastically as they were at the laying of the cor- 
ner-stone, particularly those who were dressed up in 
window-curtains ? The Bishop himself looked more 
like the Grand Turk than a Christian minister. 

I am obliged to the Bishop for telling us that only 
twenty-five years ago there was no Catholic Church 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 239 



in Ohio. I would have been a little more obliged to 
him if he had told us that the great prosperity 
boasted of since that was very much owing to the fa- 
cility we have in these latter times for crossing the 
sea. This Italian logic of prosperity may do very 
well here, but it would not sound so well in Germany 
or Ireland. Nothing in this remark is to be con- 
strued to mean that we are opposed to Catholics com- 
ing to America — by no means — let them come where 
there is a common school-house everv few miles : and 
while Irish prosperity goes on about right, this coun- 
try can take care of itself for some time to come. 

While these heretical preachers filled the United 
States, Mexico and California were supplied with the 
true representatives of Moses and Aaron. Strange 
that, with such a fine climate and soil, they should 
not be elevated much above savages ; while the east- 
ern States of this Union, first settled by Protestants, 
were far inferior in climate and soil, having long and 
dreary Winters, yet they grew up like a giant. Facts 
are stubborn things, and fruits are fast arguments. 
With the claims of the Church of Rome we ought to 
see the fruits. The city of Rome, where the head of 
this infallible Church resides, ought to be a model 
place for morals, schools, and thrift of every kind; 
but what is the fact ? Why, Italy will no more com- 
pare with the United States than Tom Thumb can 
stand by the great "Arabian giant." She is behind 
in every thing except high-sounding titles, high taxes, 
high tariffs, high- crowned hats, barefooted children, 



240 



LECTURES. 



and beggars. Rome and Italy is the very center of 
darkness, as, indeed, any country is dark where Ca- 
tholicism prevails. No wonder she is slow to make 
railroads and telegraphs. The people are taxed to 
then utmost ability. Her very life-blood, as a nation, 
is sucked out of her by the Church. Wherever Rome 
builds her altars, there is weakness — poor humanity 
is loaded with a burden that the Lord never sanc- 
tioned. Civilization never did advance much where 
this Church has the power. We know she boasts of 
France, but France had come and gone several times, 
and a large element of Protestantism has been in her ; 
and at the present time she is rather infidel than 
Catholic, so far as the masses are concerned. 

The Bishop and his friends would make us be- 
lieve that they were leaving us all behind in the way 
of building churches ; and, indeed, I have heard in- 
different persons remark, " The Catholics are beating 
you build churches — they must be prospering greatly 
in this country." But let us see if appearances are 
not deceiving some people. I suppose the Catholics 
have but two or three churches in Fairfield County, 
while the Protestants have more than fifty; now, 
suppose they were to be set by the side of their new 
Church, or suppose the buildings had been all in one 
building, what a contrast! Or suppose all the Prot- 
estant churches in the country and small villages 
were taken to the cities, they would be more than 
twenty times as great; yet Romanists tell us they 
are surpassing us in prosperity. 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 241 



While the Bishop was boasting of their great pros- 
perity, he seemed suddenly to think of the great 
Protestant revival that took place throughout the 
world two years ago, and is making such rapid ad- 
vancement in Ireland at this time. He declared that 
this was an epileptic fit, and that we have fits some- 
times. Here is another instance of the Bishop's 
judgment. An epileptic fit first renders a person in- 
sensible, and then kills. I suppose he alludes to 
some things that occur in our revival meetings, where 
sinners are so agitated as to fall to the floor. This 
is said to be a peculiarity of the revival now in Ire- 
land, mostly among the Presbyterians. But if the 
Bishop was as familiar with the Bible as he is with 
saying prayers in a row, he would see that he is not 
the first man that was mistaken in a matter of this 
kind; for when Peter was preaching, the people 
were so moved as to act strangely, whereupon one 
fellow got up and said, " These men are filled with 
new wine ;" but Peter said, " These are not drunken, 
as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the 
day." The great Apostle Paul had one of these fits, 
for he fell to the earth. But these fits are not epi- 
leptic — they do n't kill, they make alive. 

If the Bishop means to say that we have no pros- 
perity but by fits, he greatly misses the mark, for 
there has not been a day since the Reformation that 
the Church has not had increase steady as the flow 
of time — building schools, colleges, churches, and 

asylums ; educating more children, printing more 

21 



242 



LECTURES. 



newspapers and books, distributing more Bibles, than 
all the Catholic countries in the world. The na- 
tions where she has her seat are blessed also ; they 
furnish nearly all the explorers and adventurers and 
inventors. They have nearly all the great intellects 
that are enriching the sciences and arts, from a sew- 
ing-machine to a telescope. While Catholics in Italy 
were amusing themselves with ribbons and bobbinet, 
Professsor Morse was setting up telegraph-poles; 
while they are correcting their old indexes to keep 
out heretical books, the two great Bible Societies of 
England and America are sending out the Word of 
God in more than one hundred and fifty languages; 
while Protestanism, with free speech and free press, is 
rejoicing with increased prosperity, and widening its 
influence into nearly all lands, Romanists sit in the 
dark, with very little advancement for a thousand 
years. Indeed, but for England and America, she 
had never heard a steam-whistle, or never seen a tel- 
egraph-post, or a railroad-car. 

As we see things now going, the decrepit old 
mother must totter into her grave before many gen- 
erations more. She can not stand the light of the 
present age. No wonder this same Bishop Purcell 
said once that he hated the common-school system 
worse than even the Protestant Churches. He knows 
that, if the masses are educated, his Church can not 
live. Already the throne of the Pope is tottering. 
Eleven years ago he had to flee for his life to Gseta, 
and his present seat is at the mercy of the French 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 



243 



Emperor, who may withdraw his troops at any time. 
The time can not be long till her pompous pretensions 
and arrogant claims will be hated and deserted abroad 
as they are at home. To predict this requires no 
supernatural aid. The elements of her overthrow are 
now in operation to give her a grave where she will 
sleep among the shadows of Polytheism and enor- 
mities of paganism. Unless the dark ages can be 
brought back, she will rise no more forever. Every 
free newspaper and every free school-house and every 
free lyceum, and the very progress of the age, are 
so many hands to push her to the wall. 

She is now trying to suit her Janus face to please 
the world and keep a respectable place among the 
people. But her proscription for opinion's sake, and 
her old claim of binding over to the company and 
communion of devils all that differ with her in opin- 
ion, are too well known to be forgotten, for any new 
tricks she may attempt to play off now. No wonder 
we find such fruits when we consider the past prin- 
ciples of their teachings. In fact, the system trains 
the children to lie, and to do it by heart. They are 
taught to say with their lips what their consciences 
tell them is false. Take, for instance, what they 
call 6t an act of faith," found in all their Catechisms. 
" I believe all the sacred truths the Catholic Church 
believes and teaches." Now, no man can have any 
belief about a thing that is not known to him. 
Again, in what is called " an act of love " my 
God, I love thee above all things, with my whole 



244 



LECTURES. 



heart and soul, because tliou art infinitely worthy of 
love. I love, also, my neighbor as myself, for love of 
thee." (Catechism.) And before they begin their 
work they are required to say, " my God, I offer 
to thee this work which I am about to perform; 
vouchsafe to give it thy blessing." Many of them 
are grog-sellers! Catholics are also taught to be- 
lieve that by baptism they are cleansed from all 
original sin. Now, they must see that this is not 
true, for they are just as wicked after as before. 
To be clear of original sin would be to angelize 
a man. 

We see that Catholic writers never scruple at the 
most palpable misrepresentations. See Milner, for in- 
stance, in his " End of Controversy," page 151, where 
he accuses " the Methodists, and also the Calvinists, 
with teaching instantaneous justification without re- 
pentance, charity, or other good works, till, having 
witnessed the horrible impieties and crimes to which 
it conducts, Mr. Wesley changed his mind !" We all 
know what these Churches teach, and that is entirely 
false. We see from Catholic books that very little 
is said about the virtues, such as truth and honesty; 
and though the word holy occurs often, it is seldom 
applied to the heart or life. We hear more about 
holy ground, holy water, holy Virgin, holy baptism, 
holy days, than holy hearts. 

With all their claims of being the only true 
Church, and the Pope being Christ's vicegerent, there 
is scarcely any thing wherein they are like Christ. 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCELL. 245 



Even their own Bible will show this. Christ "went 
about doing good" — preaching to multitudes. The 
Pope stays at home, attending to temporal affairs. 
Christ would not let them make him a king — "made 
himself of no reputation," and was dressed in a seam- 
less garment. 

The Savior " had not where to lay his head," 
but the Pope rolls in wealth. Christ said, " My king- 
dom is not of this world, for then would my servants 
fight." But with the Pope it is just the reverse, as 
we have shown. Christ prayed for his enemies ; the 
Pope curses all that don't acknowledge the Church. 
Christ would not allow of high-sounding titles, such 
as Rabbi; but Catholicism sets up the superlatives a 
little steeper and higher than any thing on this proud 
earth. The titles of royalty in Europe, as applied to 
civil rulers, sound very lofty ; but they are all cast in 
the shade by Romanists. The Pope sits in the " throne 
of the Caesars," crumbling away now, however. He 
wears a triple crown, which means, according to 
their own account, that his power extends to heaven, 
earth, and hell. Every priest claims to himself the 
power that none of the kings of the earth, or angels 
in heaven, can claim- — that of loosing or binding a 
sinner ; opening or shutting heaven ; working a mir- 
acle when he pleases, as in the mass. We have just 
had one of these dignitaries among us at the bless- 
ing of the corner-stone — " The Most Reverend Arch- 
bishop." 

Whoever will read the thirteenth and also the 



246 



LECTURES. 



seventeenth chapter of Revelation can hardly fail to 
see a minute and awful description of Rome: her 
seven heads and ten horns; the great whore that 
corrupted the kings of the earth ; her temporal power 
and pomp. She is called the woman that sitteth 
on the scarlet- colored beast. This woman was ar- 
rayed in purple and scarlet colors, just as we see 
the gaudy dress of bishops at this time. She is 
represented as being drunken with the blood of 
saints and martyrs. Of no other institute can it 
be said, she is drunken with the blood of the mar- 
tyrs. Even according to her own acknowledgment, 
she has used the sword and fire. We know that 
not less than nine hundred thousand Albigenses and 
Waldenses were put to death, chiefly because they 
would not believe the absurdities of the real body 
and blood. 

England will never forget October 16, 1555, when 
two of her learned and noble sons (Latimer and 
Ridley) were burned at the stake; and though the 
fires of Smithfield have gone out, the infernal deed 
of February 4th is as familiar as ever. 

I have now exercised my right of free speech, 
and, for this privilege, I am thankful to God and 
proud of my country. But for this very act, if I 
were in Rome, my head would go off quickly, or I 
would pine in some horrid dungeon, where I might 
live in dreadful penance for my crime. I wish, in 
conclusion, to set up what all Protestants will agree 
in calling the true standard of Christianity. We 



REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP PURCEIX. 2±7 

have seen the standard of Rome — they are true dis- 
ciples if baptized and believe and obey the Church. 
But how beautiful the words of Christ : " By this 

SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT YE A EE MY DISCIPLES, 
IE YE HATE LOVE ONE TO ANOTHER." 



ESSAYS. 



i. 

ABLE MINISTERS. 

"Able ministers of the new testament." — 2 Cor. iii, 6. 

The office of the Christian ministry is the highest 
and holiest that God can give to men. On it rest 
responsibilities that made an apostle cry out, " Who 
is sufficient for these things?" Left to ourselves we 
would no more be able to attend to these things than 
to transact business for angels. 

To be charged with the high office of declaring 
the whole council of God ; to speak as the oracles of 
God; to be embassadors for Christ; to preach the 
everlasting Gospel to a lost world, — are expressions 
so far above the common offices of men, that no erring 
mortal should enter upon it without the most utter re- 
liance upon Almighty wisdom and power ; " that the 
man of God may be perfect — thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works " — knowing that there can be no 
able ministers but such as are made so by divine aid. 

We shall divide our subject as follows : The 

249 



250 



ESSAYS. 



minister, physically; the minister, intellectually; and 
the minister, spiritually. 

First. Physically. The body of a Christian is 
called the temple of the Holy Ghost. His separation 
to the Gospel should be of soul, body, and spirit. 
Not by constraint, nor yet of his own convenience; 
for no man taketh this honor to himself but he that 
is called of God, as was Aaron. 

Under the old covenant, the ministers of God were 
scrupulously required to be sound in body ; and, not 
only so, but to live in such a manner as to maintain 
the highest state of bodily vigor. They were re- 
quired — not by custom, or by-law, but by the writ- 
ten law of God — to abstain entirely from intoxicating 
drinks, especially when they went into the sanctuary, 
and by other strict rules of conduct, under terrible 
death penalty. Can it be supposed, then, that a min- 
ister of the new covenant should be any less holy in 
soul and body, or walk with a less sense of his con- 
secration and solemn dedication to his high New Tes- 
tament calling, than did the Old Testament priest 
under a covenant that was not everlasting? "For 
if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much 
more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in 
glory." (Heb. iii, 9.) Now, because the temporal 
death penalty is not hanging over the head of a min- 
ister, is the offense of making provision for the flesh 
any less than it was of old? especially these fleshly 
lusts that were not even found among the ruins of 
his fallen nature, but were since provided by evil 



ABLE MINISTERS. 



251 



customs? That a minister of a pure and holy re- 
ligion should be of sound and healthy parts (so far 
as his habits relate to it) is as evident as that a 
house of worship should be sanctified, or set apart, 
as was the tabernacle and temple. It should be clean, 
and its atmosphere pure and well ventilated; no 
stenches of men or beasts should enter into it to 
defile it. 

"No weed doth grow about its door, 
Or dust, or filth upon its floor; 
But clean and fresh and pure within, 
The house of God who hateth sin." 

So should every part of the body be pure, and 
kept from the sacrilegious touch of any thing carnal, 
so as to " avoid the very appearance of evil." 

If it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of 
them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad 
tidings of good things" (Rom. x, 15), how much 
more should hands, lips, tongue, garments, pockets, be 
entirely clean ? " Be ye clean that bear the vessels 
of the Lord." This setting apart, the body to the 
high office of the ministry is no capricious theory, or 
mere superstitious outward sanctity, but as necessary 
now, under the Gospel, as it formerly was under the 
law. " Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of 
the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of 
the Lord." 

Second. Intellectually. The old and true apho- 
rism, that " mind is the measure of the man," applies 
to none better than to the preacher ; so that we may 



252 



ESSAYS. 



say, with equal force, mind is the measure of the min- 
ister. Nothing can supplement this — no ordination, 
succession, or preferment, civil or sacerdotal. No 
clerical forms, robes, or ritualistic performances can 
take the place of brains. He was an enemy, or a 
scoffer, who said to the English gentleman who had 
several sons to educate, that the brightest one must 
be for the law, and the dullest would do for the 
Church. That might be said by one who lived under 
the incestuous secularized union of Church and State, 
and who knew nothing of the high commission of the 
true minister ; called not of man, but of God. There 
is as much difference between the holy minister of 
Christ, who is fully set apart to minister in holy 
things, and the lawyer, whose work is chiefly among 
filthy lucre, and who pleads for or against (as the 
case may be) thief, robber, and murderer, as there 
is difference between the Gibeonite hewer of wood 
and drawer of water and the high-priest with breast- 
plate and miter, or between a stone-cutter and a 
crown-jeweler. This, of course, is only said of the 
profession as a profession, for a lawyer may be a 
better man than some ministers. 

If Bonaparte could say to his army, in Egypt, 
"Forty centuries are looking down upon you from 
the tops of the pyramids," and expect every man to 
do his duty, how much more may it be said, to the 
Christian minister, that Christ is looking down on 
you from Calvary, and, in a much higher sense, ex- 
pects every man to do his duty. While the forces 



ABLE MINISTERS. 



253 



of light and darkness face eacli other, there is no 
time for flesh-pleasing or truce-making; no time to 
slumber with Sybaris, or feast with Apicius. It is a 
time of war, and every minister ought to be an able 
minister, leading on to glorious triumph. In order to 
this, if he is wise, he will make every thing sub- 
serve this one great end. He should be better dis- 
ciplined, and more learned than those of other and 
inferior professions. He should not merely be a 
thought-repeater, but a thought-producer. He should 
be all that Yoltaire said of Dr. Samuel Clarke, " a 
reasoning machine ;" and more, a great depository 
of knowledge, so as to have the respect of all classes 
and schools. The further he can travel in the four 
kingdoms of science, the better. He will not know 
too much of any thing, whether rocky, leafy, finny, 
footed, or winged — pre-adamite or post-adamite. Not 
that we suppose every minister can be proficient in 
every branch of learning, but let him so hunger and 
thirst after knowledge, that he, " through desire, hav- 
ing separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with 
all wisdom." No profession is so in want of rich 
and varied mental furniture, and none more adorned 
by it, than the Christian ministry. He must expect 
to meet error in many forms — philosophy, falsely 
so-called; even religion itself, falsely so-called. 

Able ministers are more needed in this world than 
able generals — such as are " mighty in the Scrip- 
tures," " the sword of the Spirit." This is the most 
important of all the kinds of mental resources and 



254 



ESSAYS. 



powers. When Darius presented Alexander with a 
costly and precious casket, he consulted his friends as 
to what he should put in it. They differed in their 
advice; but he decided to put in it Homer's "Iliad" 
and " Odyssey." God has given us the costly casket 
of the mind. What shall we put in it so valuable 
and profitable as the Word of life? "Let the Word 
of God dwell in you richly, in all wisdom." (Col. 
iii, 16.) 

Of all the resources and helps to the preacher, a 
thorough knowledge and ready use of the Scriptures 
is the greatest. The Inspired Word is not only the 
wisest and best, but is most fruitful in thought; and 
the preacher who is skillful in its use will never be 
at a loss for an illustration. 

Only one man in Scripture is called eloquent 
(Apollos) ; and it is a singular fact that he also is the 
only man that is said to be " mighty in the Scrip- 
tures," leaving us to infer that being mighty in the 
Scriptures made him eloquent. He was truly an 
able minister, and " mightily convinced the Jews." 
Dr. Priestly discovered oxygen, Sir John Napier in- 
vented logarithms, the immortal Newton scaled the 
heavens, and led the world in lofty thinking; yet 
none of these men, though endowed with such vast 
powers, entertained any thoughts equal in conception 
or end to the mind in which God's Word dwells 
richly. 

Third. Spiritually. Paul's solemn charge to Tim- 
othy, not merely as a bishop, but a preacher, is the 



ABLE MINISTERS. 



255 



grandest ever made to man. Higher than any trust 
or honor, installation, coronation, or investiture of 
titled greatness; pronounced before the Judge of 
quick and dead, with far greater responsibilities and 
possibilities than any of the high offices that can be 
filled by man, this charge is the same to every 
preacher. It may be found in 2 Timothy, fourth 
chapter and first verse : " I charge thee therefore be- 
fore God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge 
the quick and the dead at his appearing and his king- 
dom ; preach the Word ; be instant in season, out 
of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long- 
suffering and doctrine." 

Of all the qualifications for a preacher of right- 
eousness, none is of greater importance than that he 
be righteous himself. "Physician, heal thyself," is 
never more applicable than here. Not even an angel 
could be employed in this work unless he were a holy 
angel. Not every holy man is a preacher; but every 
preacher should be holy. Here is the chief measure 
of a minister's ability. He that has the most power 
with God will have the most influence with men. A 
holy heart can not be imitated or counterfeited, 
neither in fact nor in fruits. There are many gifts 
and graces ; but how is a man to " preach the Gospel, 
with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven," if it 
is not first sent down into his own heart ? We know 
that an able minister should preach on a very wide 
range of subjects, even as wide as found in the Scrip- 
tures; but there are some doctrines more immediately 



256 



ESSAYS. 



necessary than others, and that relate to the experi- 
ence of a Christian, and on which no man is fit to 
preach who does not himself have this experience ; 
for how can a man lead the people up to an experi- 
ence he does not know himself? He can not say 
come, and he dares not say go. 

Churches sometimes get gradually weaker and 
smaller, when there is some occult cause which re- 
mains out of sight for years. The minister, or min- 
isters, were not without many good qualities ; they 
did not preach false doctrine; they sincerely tried to 
build up the Church; they were men of talent; they 
chose subjects that ought sometimes to be chosen ; 
and, in short, they were about all that a minister 
ought to be outwardly. But they did not have a 
rich personal experience in spiritual things. Perhaps 
it might be said that they were able ministers of the 
letter, but not of the spirit. Having no experience 
in the deep things of God, they would avoid preach- 
ing on such subjects ; " for every one that useth milk 
is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a 
babe." They preach the Gospel, but not the whole 
Gospel. It is said by physiologists that the human 
system needs certain kinds of food to be in the best 
health ; and though the food be of the best prepara- 
tion and of the best quality, yet, without this that is 
by nature required, the health can not be good. So 
of doctrines preached; there must be some "strong 
meat." 

But let us be charitable toward these " unskillful " 



ABLE MINISTERS. 



257 



workmen, for they may yet become able ministers. 
Milk is better than nothing ; it is better to be a babe 
than not to be at all. David carried cheese and 
parched corn some time before he slew Goliath. 
From the ranks of these baby preachers have come 
many a mighty Apollos. But the danger is that 
those men remain too long — till they bury their talent, 
and the Lord come to judgment. The description 
of such is " blind guides," "blind watchmen," "a 
stranger," " wolf in sheep's clothing," " ravening 
wolves," "dumb dogs," "greedy dogs," "false proph- 
ets." To such God says, "What hast thou to do to 
declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my 
covenant in thy mouth ?" 

Of all the pursuits or professions, none offer such 
fields for high endeavor or such worthy employment 
to great minds. But be it known that " God looketh 
on the heart and requireth truth in the inward parts." 
The history of evangelism is a very interesting one, 
and only second to the Acts of the Apostles, and 
should be more studied. It would, indeed, be very 
humiliating to clerical pride, but would teach a lesson 
of God's dealings and ways that would be better than 
all the popularity that any man could receive. It is 
a remarkable fact in this history that the men that 
have been most promoted and highest titled have not 
been those that God honored most with success in 
bringing souls to himself. Whatever ecclesiastical 
hierarchies are for, they do n't seem to be much en- 
gaged in saving souls. 

22 



258 



ESSAYS. 



It will not be disputed that the most honored 
instrument in this country during the last thirty 
years, who was most successful in the salvation of 
sinners and building up believers, was not an ordained 
minister at all, but was an elect lady — Mrs. Phoebe 
Palmer. At her meetings not less than seventy 
thousand souls were brought into the Churches. 

It will also be observed that the most successful 
laborers in the Lord's vineyard have generally been 
loaded with reproaches, and went through the world 
just as our Lord told us long ago, "Marvel not, my 
brethren, if the world hate you." But they also went 
on through their great work under that blessing that 
Christ pronounced in his sermon on the mount, 
" Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and per- 
secute you, and shall say all manner of evil against 
you falsely for my sake." (Matt, v, 11.) 

Some ministers attract attention to themselves, 
while others attract attention to Christ. The former 
are able ministers in a worldly sense, the latter are 
able ministers in a Scripture sense. But soon, very 
soon, the winnowing winds that waste the chaff of 
human glory will sweep through their little worldly 
eminences, and sport with their inflated popularity, till 
there be nothing left but the ashes of wood, hay, and 
stubble. But the wise servant, who built with gold, 
silver, and precious stones, saw his work tried, saw it 
stand, and heard his rich reward promised, " Well 
done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into 
the joy of thy Lord." 



LAWFUL PLEASURES. 



259 



II. 

LAWFUL PLEASURES * 

Man was made for pleasure. He is set for it as 
a fish for water, or a bird for air, as fin for swimming, 
and wing for flying. He is originally and constitu- 
tionally set for pleasure, and whatever your anthro- 
pological theories may be, you are impressed with 
this. Whether Stoic, Gnostic, or Epicurean, this one 
great, self-evident truth is never disputed. From his 
infinitely wise and good Creator he came into being 
in this normal state. This was the original diagram 
of his very existence, with pure pleasure for his 
sphere and style of life. But suffering came into the 
race after the creation, so that now man is a sufferer. 
Surely, some strange, unnatural discord must have in- 
vaded man's nature and deranged his faculties, if not 
the very essence of his soul. Man's high place in 
the universe is manifest, for the Creator has ad- 
justed every thing for his good. 

Six great days were taken to prepare a place for 
him. This mighty system of worlds was all finished 
up beforehand. The calendar of time was started; 

* Delivered in Williams-street Church, Delaware, Ohio, before 
the students and Professors of the Ohio Wesleyan University 
May 11, 1873. 



260 



ESSAYS. 



the great chandelier of the solar system was hung up 
and lighted before man opened his eyes; the great 
chronometer of the heavens was finished and wound 
up, its pendulum oscillating, its wheels moving, before 
man was. 

The question has often been raised, "Has man 
more capacity for pleasure than for pain?" It is 
most evident that since his fall he has vastly more for 
pain. Who would burn a minute at the stake, or un- 
dergo the horrid pincers of the African white ants, for 
a hundred years of pleasure in the highest capacity 
of nature ? 

" Whole hours of pleasure glide unperceived away, 
While sorrow counts the moments as they pass." 

I was once on a bed of agony where I happened to 
face the dial of a clock, and it seemed that the min- 
ute-hand scarcely moved at all ; and as it went from 
one five minutes to another, it seemed more like the 
movement of the hour-hand than the minute-hand* 

Man was granted liberty enough, and varied and 
wonderful objects enough, to gratify and satisfy all his 
mental and moral powers. But he broke over the 1 
bounds of liberty, so that when we trace back the 
terrible state of his evil nature, we find it to be 
the abuse of liberty. Pleasure, sought on forbidden 
ground, results in the sting of death. The thou 
shaltfs, and the tliou shalt not' 8, thunder all around the 
tree of life. Poor, weak, brief, unsuitable, unnatural 
pleasure turned the Eden home into a court of judg- 
ment, till innocence fled, and a flaming sword guarded 



LAWFUL PLEASURES. 



261 



its gates, no more to be opened from the earthly side. 
This same unchangeable law of God against trans- 
gression comes down to our time, with the loss of none 
of the terrors. But God is merciful and gracious, 
and " his tender mercies are over all his works." It 
is his good pleasure to make and keep us happy ; but 
we should know, as we know the nature of devouring 
fire, that unlawful pleasure is the source of pain. 

Pleasure-seekers are pain-finders. Liberty abused 
turns to slavery endured. It is not now our mind to 
show the justice of God in punishing sin. It is 
enough to say to the train, run, but keep the track, 
keep to the rules, and follow the rules and rails. 
Say to the ship, sail, but keep from rock and reef; 
the ocean is wide and deep enough, sail. And to 
pleasure-loving man we say the same things;* take 
pleasure, take it freely and fully, as you are made for 
it ; but keep off the rocks of the " thou shalt not's." 
Pleasure must not be contrary to nature, to ourselves, 
or to God. It must be subordinate to our state and 
circumstances; hence, it must be timely and temper- 
ate. If any of these rules are broken, disappoint- 
ment is certain. 

In kind, it must be worthy of rational man. 
Reason must not give up the reins to desire for a 
single moment. Manhood must not leave its high 
seat to eat straw like the ox. Eagles do not catch 
flies, nor angels play on jew's-harps. 

We will notice some of the most common kinds 
of pleasure of the present times. First, gaming — 



262 



ESSAYS. 



one of the most extensively practiced, in various 
forms, in all countries. We only ask you to consider 
the nature of this pleasure, and see in what does the 
fascination consist. Is it not in winning f I win, 
you lose. And is this worthy the attention, time, 
and emotions of such a being as man ? 

Of gaming, there are many kinds, of which we can 
not speak severally. But, in general terms, we 
would object to all those games that violate the laws 
of health, whether of body or mind. Such are those 
that require a stooping or twisting posture of the 
body, standing long on the feet, bending the spine 
and pressing the viscera downward. If these organs 
could speak, they would cry out against this treat- 
ment; they would say, give me room; the spleen 
would say, let me up ; the heart would say, keep 
clear of my beat; the great gastric treasury of the 
whole would say, take off the pressure ; the whole 
muscular, vascular, visceral, and thoracic systems 
would say, straighten up. It is unmilitary and awk- 
ward. Much has been said of the necessary exercise 
that gaming supplies ; but this is more than counter- 
balanced by the inordinate use of it. When once a 
man gets interested in gaming, he hardly takes 
notice of the many hours wasted, and family neg- 
lected. The passion steals on the mind so imper- 
ceptibly that excess is unobserved. We know the 
player says, "Only a little healthy exercise;" but, 
like the soldiers who tell the citizens, "We never take 
any but the top rail for firewood," in vain do you 



LAWFUL PLEASURES. 



263 



look for the bottom rail when they strike their tents. 
It will be said that Christians are not to deny them- 
selves certain games because the people of the world 
engage in them; but, we answer, if the devil gets 
into the saddle, we are not to ride behind. 

Another common way to seek pleasure is in novel- 
reading. Much has been said to excuse and moralize 
this habit, but we ask our young friends to consider 
a few things before starting into a story that may 
please, but soon be forgotten. 

Every young gentleman and lady should have 
read the history of their own country, and should 
know what salt is composed of, should know whether 
the moon goes round the world east or west, and 
many other little things, without which there will be 
a great emptiness of mind, which novel-reading would 
in no wise improve. 

To start into a half-inch novel, and thereby lose 
sight of all solid ground, and get into a state of men- 
tal poverty and dissipation, that mind must come to 
grief sooner or later. We declare that the fictitious 
is inferior to the real, both as to kind and intensity 
of pleasure. And, then, nothing is left to the empty 
mind of the reader but a fading, unprofitable dream 
of something that never was. The Versailles artifi- 
cial flower-makers can no more compete with a real 
lily than a novelist can equal the story of Joseph. 

The evil of fiction-reading to the mental habits is 
very great, and sometimes incurable. It may be 
compared to a hot-house, where plants are hurried 



264 



ESSAYS. 



forward before their time. Sometimes they look well 
and sell well, but we soon see their succulence, and 
smell their fungi. 

Fiction-reading familiarizes the mind with false- 
hood and false tastes, and often brings religion into 
contempt. Our boys become rovers and fortune-hunt- 
ers. Our girls become dreamers and sensitive-plants. 
They both become impatient of the common course 
of things. Luck is sought, and labor shunned and 
despised. How deplorable to see a young person 
with fact under his feet and fiction in his eye. The 
best powers of the mind are left without exercise. A 
mental indolence is put on as a habit. 

To read the latest novel, 
And cry and feel most awful, 
Only requires a few small grains 
Of education and of brains. 

These pleasures are like the riches that consist of 
borrowed money, with pay-day just at hand. 

But let us hear from one that ought to be a 
judge of these things, and who was himself a great 
writer of fiction. Goldsmith writes to his brother 
concerning his son : "Above all things, never let your 
son touch a novel or romance. How delusive, how 
destructive, are those pictures of consummate bliss! 
They teach the youthful mind to sigh after beauty 
and happiness that never existed." And let us hear 
another of equal importance as a judge of these 
things, and a great writer of fiction himself. Bulwer, 
in a letter to Boston, said: "I have closed my career 



LAWFUL PLEASURES. 



265 



as a writer of fiction. I am gloomy and unhappy. 
I have exhausted the powers of life, chasing pleas- 
ure where it is not to be found." 

And what these men said of this kind of pleas- 
ure. Lord Chesterfield said of the fashionable pleasures 
of the world. This man was the grandest courtier 
and mightiest Nimrod-hunter of pleasure in Europe, 
or the world. Hear him: "I have enjoyed all the 
pleasures of the world. I do not regret their loss. I 
have been behind the scenes. I have seen all the 
coarse pulleys and dirty ropes which move the gaudy 
machines, and I have seen and smelled the tallow- 
candles which illuminate the whole decorations, to the 
astonishment of an ignorant audience." 

But what shall we say to these things — what shall 
we recommend? The mind must have something for 
employment ; and, as we have said at first, man was 
made for pleasure. We can only suggest a few 
things. The field is wide, and the means ample, and 
varied in kind. Instead of the gamester, we suggest 
the amateur; instead of the novelist, we suggest the 
scientist; instead of the air-drawn imaginative sunset, 
dioramic colors, that fade away, leaving nothing but 
emptiness and disappointment, we suggest the natu- 
ral, healthful, pure pleasures of sound philosophy and 
religion. Let our young people have their special- 
ties, as did Newton, Davy, Franklin, Priestley, and 
Morse. These men pursued a more lofty kind of 
pleasure, far better suited to our nature, both in 
kind and degree, than the common, hasty pleasure- 

2 3 



266 



ESSAYS. 



hunters, that drift along with the multitude in one 
unbroken stream of sameness. What must have been 
Newton's joy when he discovered the grand principle 
of gravitation; or Franklin's delight at the discovery 
of electricity being identical with the lightning of the 
clouds ; or Priestley's emotion when he discovered ox- 
ygen ? Who can ever know how much pleasure Yan 
Mons took in his garden, as he, through many years 
of experiment, brought out many new kinds of pears? 
And the gratification it was to Mr. Bull to originate 
the Concord grape? And also the success of Mr. 
Rogers, who delighted us with his fine hybrids ? 

But it will be said that we have not the means 
that these men had. In some cases this is true ; but 
when the mind is set on any thing there will gener- 
ally be a way. Copernicus had no astronomical ap- 
paratus but what he made himself. Sir Isaac Newton 
made many of the best instruments he used. Let no 
Dne think the fields are all reaped, the discoveries all 
made. We have only picked up a few shells on the 
mighty ocean-shore, while the great deep is yet un- 
explored. 

How intellectual, rational beings, can spend their 
time in mere momentary gratification, while such rich 
and inviting fields are redolent with invitations, we 
can not understand. 

But, after all the wonders and pleasures of na- 
ture, with their rich and varied treasures, there are 
still the higher pleasures which are "forever more" 
The joys of salvation are above all joys — most suited, 



LAWFUL PLEASURES. 



267 



most intense, most enduring. Man is a pleasure- 
seeking being ; but let him never forget that, but for 
unlawful pleasure, he would have lived in one unin- 
terrupted and eternal state of joy. Sin and pain are 
ironed together. Purity and pleasure are married to- 
gether in golden bands— they live together, sing to- 
gether, and they will, in inseparable union, rise and 
soar to heaven together, never to be separated, world 
without end. 

"Infinite day excludes the night, 
And pleasures banish pain." 



268 



ESSAYS. 



III. 

RITUALISM. 

Ritualism is formalism on dress-parade. That 
the poor heathen, who never saw the New Testa- 
ment, should try to dress up their false religions, is 
not surprising ; but for any people that have read the 
beautiful simplicity and heavenly wisdom of the In- 
spired Word, it is a wonder that they should turn 
away from such excellence and substitute such trans- 
parent nonsense. It is as if they would attempt to 
scour the face of the moon and burnish up the stars. 

If our language and dislike should seem strong, 
it must be accounted for from our supreme admiration 
of the New Testament, which is entirely without form 
or ceremony. In its inspired pages we see neither 
picture, statue, cross, image, or vestment. Though 
the grandest events and most varied subjects are 
treated, and the most glorious doctrines revealed, with 
the history of the greatest ministers and Churches 
given with great minuteness, yet there is nothing like 
ritual, prayer-book, rosary, gown, or calendar. Even 
the short and general idea of prayer, called the 
Lord's Prayer, is given with the instruction, " After 
this manner," and is only half a minute long. Should 



RITUALISM. 



269 



any insist on ritualizing this prayer, the rehearsal will 
run out in half a minute. 

The ordinance of baptism consists in little more 
than three words. The outward form, or manner, re- 
mains an open question to this day, and more inter- 
esting to men than to God. The sacrament of the 
Lord's-supper is without form of words. Nothing 
but the simple facts are given, and they in the brief- 
est possible sentences, as if the ordinance itself were 
too holy to be doled out pro forma. The setting apart 
of holy men to the ministry is also without ceremony 
or incantation. It will be said that they received 
the hands of the Presbytery, and prayer was offered. 
True; but not one word of what the prayer was. 
Doubtless it was extemporized. The doctrine and 
nature of matrimony is described, and weddings are 
spoken of, and various things on this subject; but 
not one word of marriage ceremony. 

As to the division of time, or any religious cal- 
endar of observances, all such things came to an end, 
and were closed forever at the ninth hour of the day 
on which the great Redeemer finished the ceremonial 
dispensation. Of all the days in the year, only the 
Sabbath is to be observed. In the New Testament 
you look in vain for any other — no Christmas, or 
Good Friday, or Easter, or Lent. Whatever may be 
claimed for these days, they are not of God's making; 
nor did the primitive Church notice them at all. Paul 
had something else to do than to keep step to a rit- 
ual service. Nor did he approve of it in others, for 



270 



ESSAYS. 



he wrote the Galatians, "How turn ye again to the 
weak and beggarly elements ?" " Ye observe days and 
months and times and years. I am afraid of you, 
lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." (Gal. 
iv, 9-11.) 

Christmas, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Lent, 
are purely Roman Catholic days, and entirely of 
man's making. The inconsistency of observing these 
days is not so great with the Roman Catholic Church 
as with the Protestant Church, for they do not hold 
that the Scriptures contain all the rules of faith and 
doctrine ; but Protestants do. Therefore, when Prot- 
estants observe these days, they ignore the New Tes- 
tament entirely, and on the authority of the Catholic 
traditions, turn to those things that made Paul afraid. 

But the question will be asked, If ritualism is 
wrong now was it not wrong in Old Testament times ? 
We answer, that , then the ignorance was profound; 
long before the art of printing, books were few and 
costly and cumbersome, and it required this slow 
training, this scaffolding, this drilling, this schoolmas- 
ter to prepare, and introduce them to the more ex- 
cellent New Testament worship. But I need not give 
any reason ; for it is enough for any Christian to 
know that Christ " blotted out the handwriting of ordi- 
nances that was against us, which was contrary to us, 
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross." 
(Col. ii, 14.) For a full account of this passing away 
of ritual law, read the whole book of Hebrews, and 
you will see how the shadows fly before the substance. 



RITUALISM. 



271 



That we should have no ritual under the New 
Testament is most obvious. The Christian minister 
is supposed to be intelligent — far above the old Jew- 
ish priest — and to be able to preach and expound 
the Scriptures, and, therefore, not to need any ritual- 
istic contrivances to help him along, or keep him from 
sacrilegious blunders. And surely one that has mind 
enough to preach, has mind enough to attend to the 
ordinances with propriety and decency. 

We are not ignorant of the tendency in some 
minds to ritualize every thing in the Church. Not 
long since, we saw a feeble attempt to bring the ma- 
chinery into the Methodist Episcopal Church. A cer- 
tain minister did write a little ritual, copying largely 
from a ritualistic Church, and hoped that his book 
would be adopted. In this new book we noticed a 
prayer for a sick child! as if a Methodist preacher 
would not have sense enough to pray for a sick child 
without having the words put in his mouth. This 
seemed to us like offering a dead fly to an eagle, or 
a crutch to the swift-footed Asahel. 

The true worship needs no stilts or splints to keep 
it respectable, or keep it stiff or straight. And 
should the time ever come to introduce any thing of 
this kind into the Methodist Episcopal Church, it 
will be a sign of weakness and departure from the 
old paths, and from success. It will be a sad day 
when a Church that has had the place of honor in 
saving souls and building up the kingdom of Christ 
gives up her campaign working garments, and gathers 



272 



ESSAYS. 



up the old, worn-out clothes of moldering, mildewed, 
ritualistic Churches, with which to deck herself, all to 
please the vain eye and bad taste of an unregenerate 
world. We hope that day may never come; it 
would be a time of bad news as when Eli's heart 
" trembled for the ark of God," when the messenger 
came and told that Hophni and Phinehas were dead, 
the ark captured, and he fell back and died. And 
worse than all, Ichabod was born, and the glory 
departed. 

If any thing should be repeated in public, it is 
the Lord's Prayer, the brevity of which will prevent 
the tiresomeness of the service. But we very much 
doubt if our Lord ever intended it to be ritualized 
into a mere rehearsal, a mechanical saying over of 
words, one reading and others following after, keep- 
ing the mind on the words, and the attention all 
taken up with the exact time to pronounce the words. 
Is it possible for the mind to be so at liberty, and 
faith and hope have their free exercise, when the 
chief effort of the mind is to keep step with the 
reader? For in a public congregation the words 
must begin and end at precisely the right time; for 
any mistake would make an embarrassment. The 
beginning and ending of any sentence must be syn- 
chronous with the reader. We do not object to the 
repetition of this or any other Scripture, but think it 
would be more effective and truly devotional for one 
to read and others to hear. Prayers read out of a 
book do n't seem so effectual as for us to pray 



RITUALISM. 



273 



directly to God for those things we know we want. If 
Peter had had to say over any form of prayer when 
he began to sink, he might have been ten feet under 
water before he could have found the page or 
place; how much more natural and effectual, "Lord, 
save me!" 

Ritualistic prayers and doctrines are always ac- 
companied with certain kinds of dress. This may 
strike some minds, but we think most persons can 
see that this is all "put on." There is nothing like 
it with Christ or his disciples. Nothing could be 
more unlike Christ than the dress of the Pope and 
the priests — he with a seamless garment, as if pur- 
posely to teach simplicity and humility, and they with 
flapping skirts enough to make two or three coats, to 
say nothing of the gold lace, tassels, ribbons, and 
other showy things, that would rather be looked for 
on a Rajah than a Christian. 

All Christ's teachings and examples are in direct 
opposition to the Romish or pagan dress. To an 
educated thinking man there must be a kind of child- 
ishness, or rather foolishness, in dressing up the body 
in a particular way, as if that had any thing to do 
with religion. If these priests were pagans, and 
their people in utter ignorance, and they had no 
other way to impress them with respect and obedi- 
ence, we could see the object, as, indeed, that must 
have been the object at first. But, to an enlightened 
people, there seems to be something that says, " Look 
at me ; see how pretty I am dressed up. Look at 



274 



ESSAYS. 



my lace and gold leaf, my flowing gown and other 
nice things. I am above the common herd; respect 
me and obey me; call me father, though I be the 
younger." We really don't see how two of these 
overdressed and unnaturally dressed males can meet, 
look one another in the face, and not laugh. 

Let us next examine their titles, which are strik- 
ingly opposed to the letter and spirit of the New 
Testament. It is very noteworthy how entirely free 
the Scriptures are of titles. There are words to de- 
note employment, offices, or occupation, but no prefix 
to denote honor, or any thing above the common 
people. We read of Paul and Peter and John, but 
no title is ever attached to their names — no Rev. 
Paul, or Dr. Paul, or Bishop Peter, or Right Rev. 
John. We read of brother Paul and Simon Peter. 
But, did they not say Saint Paul? No. It is no- 
where found in the Scriptures. The tacking it on to 
the names of the four evangelists and John the reve- 
lator at the head of the books written by these men, 
is wholly without authority, and was done long after 
the books were written. It is not so in the Greek 
original. All these things are of man's making, and 
are contrary to Christ's teaching and example. " Be 
not ye called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even 
Christ, and all ye are brethren. And call no man 
your father upon the earth, for one is your Father, 
which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters, for 
one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is 
greatest among you shall be your servant. And 



RITUALISM. 



275 



whosoever shall exalt himself, shall be abased ; and he 
that shall humble himself, shall be exalted." The 
nature and spirit of these high- top titles quadrates 
with Caesar, not with Christ. They are all born of 
pride and vanity, and are the very opposite of Christ 
and humility and Christianity. Let any one that 
would see the truth of our statement examine the 
dress, ceremony, and titles of the civil, political, and 
religious leaders of India, or other pagan countries, 
and compare them with the high-sounding titles of 
ritualistic Churches, and the similarity will be so evi- 
dent that he will see that Rome Christian is dressed 
in the livery of Rome pagan. 

And, then, if you would see how these human 
contrivances fade away before the Gospel, read a his- 
tory of Christian missions when they take off and 
take down these titles and feathers. As a specimen 
of human vanity, we know of nothing greater than 
the titles of the Emperor of Delhi. When he sold 
out his government to the English for six hundred 
and seventy-five thousand dollars, he reserved all his 
titles by treaty, which, no doubt, the English were 
very willing to grant, for they were cheap. These 
titles were, "The Sun of the -Faith," "Lord of the 
World," " Master of the Universe and of the Honor- 
able East India Company," " King of India and of 
the Infidels," " The Superior of the Governor-gen- 
eral," and "Proprietor of the Soil from Sea to Sea." 
And, of course, his dress and ceremonies corresponded 
with his titles. (Land of the Yeda, page 171.) 



276 



ESSAYS. 



There always will be people to run after these 
things, but intelligent persons can see the hollowness 
and vanity of it. " Mind is the measure of the man," 
not his gown or hat. In the Protestant Churches the 
temptation is strong to put nattering titles on their 
chief ministers; and flattery is hard to rebuke by 
those that receive it. Surely our greatest ministers 
need no titles. Wesley would not have been a whit 
greater with a title three-stories high. They were 
wise men, and men of fine taste that devised an epi- 
taph for the tomb of Noah Webster— just the word 
Webster. His world-wide history tells enough. His 
great Dictionary is eulogy enough. No Christian 
minister should desire any prefix, affix, or suffix, to 
his name to help up, or help on, in the esteem of his 
fellow-mortals, for every body knows how unequally 
these titles are given, and how unworthy many per- 
sons are of them. Where a Church loses even in part 
her pure doctrines and experience, there follow out- 
ward ritualistic forms as surely as decay follows death. 
Error is in a hurry to hide her nakedness with robes 
and rites of her own cutting and fitting. The prim- 
itive Church was burdened with none of these things ; 
but as soon as it was connected with the State, and 
lost its spiritual power, then came high titles, with 
vain pomp and show, copying after the world. 

In all this there is something so artificial, so self- 
ishly and vainly contrived for such a vain purpose, 
and so unlike Christ, and we should think so easily 
seen through, that it is never worth what it costs, nor 



RITUALISM. 



277 



ever goes for what its friends think it does. A cer- 
tain philosopher went to a certain place, with an old 
but decent coat on, but saw immediately that he was 
slighted, because of the coat, as was the man spoken 
of in James ii, 3. But he began to philosophize on 
the matter thus : "lam slighted because of this coat ; 
not me, but the coat. I am not guilty of crime, or 
bad manners. It must be this coat. I am all right 
myself. Old coat, it is you ; if you can bear it, I 
can, for you are more immediately concerned." 

Every man ought to stand on his own worth, and 
ought not to desire any thing more. Napoleon Bo- 
naparte taught the sycophantic world a lesson, when 
some Italian genealogists, in the days of his great- 
ness, tried to flatter him, by tracing back his pedigree 
to the Dukes of Treviso; but the old Corsican cut 
them short, by saying that his patent of nobility dated 
from the battle of Montenotte — his first victory over 
the Austrians in Italy. Sometimes the flattery and 
false dignity that props a man up, and makes him 
think himself great, proves his downfall ; for a weak 
and foolish man is made more conspicuous, and his 
weakness and folly more exposed. 

"The most unhappy he who placed on high, 
Exposed to every tongue, and every eye; 
Whose follies blazed about to all are known, 
And are a secret to himself alone." 

We are not surprised that men, who know not 
Christ, or his heavenly teachings, and spiritual honors, 
should try to draw pleasure from some other source, 



278 



ESSAYS. 



and seek to please each other's eyes, and " seek honor 
one of another." But we should expect Christians, 
who have promised (in baptism) to renounce the vain 
pomp and glory f the world, to be of another spirit ; 
for it can not be long till the winnowing winds, that 
waste the chaff of human glory, will blow away every 
rag of self-exaltation. 

The sameness of ritualism makes worshipers have 
an aversion to the house of the Lord. The tiresome 
routine is neither edifying to the mind, nor comforting 
to the heart. There is neither faith, nor hope, nor 
love, nor any noble emotion, nor principle in it. The 
people of this matter-of-fact, utilitarian age, will not 
endure its patience-trying round of empty repetitions. 
If such things must be attached to religion, people 
will turn away from it, for they must have something 
more real, as there is nothing in it either of profit 
or pleasure. By loading the worship of God with 
these human contrivances, the Rabbins blinded the 
Jews, and the monks brought the dark ages. But if 
we rightly judge the people of this school-house land, 
they will not sit still long enough, or be patient 
enough, for these formalities. They think and travel 
and dare to drive where there are no ruts or rituals. 

We would not make any invidious distinction be- 
tween the Protestant Churches, for we love them all ; 
but it is well known that some are more ritualistic 
than others, and that members and ministers of the 
same Church do not all agree on these points. A 
hundred years ago all Protestant Churches were called 



RITUALISM. 



279 



Eeformed Churches ; and, as might be supposed, some 
were more reformed than others. Dryden tried to 
pay a compliment to one of them after he had left 
it, and joined the Romanists. He said, " The least 
deformed, because reformed the least." This noted 
line -was quoted by Dr. Milner to James Brown, in 
1801, as a kind of tribute of respect to his Church. 

There is, doubtless, something in the natural-born 
disposition of persons that inclines them to these 
forms. Some persons love processions and parades, 
high colors and titles, and fine dress and excessive po- 
liteness and display, while others take no delight, 
but rather disgust, in such things, and rather look off 
in another direction for enjoyment. Doctors Aber- 
nethy and Cooper, of London, were men of almost 
equal eminence in their medical profession, but Aber- 
nethy was as plain as a Quaker, and as rustic as a 
farmer, while Cooper was as showy as a Rajah, and 
rode out in a splendor rivaling the king. 

But, perhaps, then, it will be said, let every man 
follow his own taste ; but, we answer that the best 
taste is in the inspired Word of God. Nothing we 
have said is to be understood as opposed to creeds or 
confessions of faith. A creed is a standard of belief, 
not a rule of faith. The Scriptures are the only rule 
of faith and practice, and a sufficient rule. But, let 
all creed and confession makers beware, and take care 
how they add to or take from the inspired Word of 
God. The best Churches have the shortest creeds, 
and no Church that we ever knew makes as short 



280 



ESSAYS. 



prayers as those found in the Bible. In giving our 
views of this subject, we have tried to follow Him 
that wore a seamless robe, and " spake as never man 
spoke," in whom " nothing availeth any thing but a 
new creature." 



TOBACCO. 



281 



IV. 

TOBACCO. 

We propose in this essay to speak of our subject 
as it affects men physically, mentally, morally, and 
socially. 

I. Physically. 

Every one of us has a body to take care of and 
live in, and a wonderful body it is, erect, curious, 
and peculiar, with capacities for great extremes. It 
may be crowned with honor, or wasted in degrada- 
tion. It is structurally tender, functionally recupera- 
tive; presided over by a mind capable of seeing its 
importance, providing for its wants, and guarding 
against its foes. 

One of its greatest foes is that deadly narcotic, 
tobacco. But as the number of those that use it are 
legion, and to oppose such a wide-spread habit will be 
considered as dipping water out of a river, our argu- 
ments ought to be strong as axioms. We will begin 
with the men that know most of the human body, 
men of learning and experience, men that have seen 
the body in all its varied conditions, before and after 
death. No one will dispute that nearly all the med- 
ical writers of all countries have clearly and strongly 

24 



282 



ESSAYS. 



expressed their opinions that tobacco is a pernicious 
weed, and its use the source of many diseases and 
disabilities. To name these authors would be to 
write a long list of well-known names, such as Sir 
A. Cooper, of England, and Dr. Eberle, of this coun- 
try. Indeed, the sayings of these observing men, if 
collected, would make a volume that might well be 
published for the good of mankind. 

But it requires no medical knowledge to see that 
any continual habit where one class of organs is 
powerfully excited, and that an unnatural excitement, 
causing a continual waste of the salivary secretion, to 
say nothing of other effects, must be trying to the 
best constitutions. 

Nature revolts at the use of "the first grain of it, 
and raises such a rebellion and vehement opposition, 
that a rational being should not repeat the insult. 
Of all the noxious herbs that grow, there is none, 
perhaps, so nauseous to the natural taste, and for 
which the stomach will so quickly give warning of an 
enemy. A very small quantity, without concentration 
in the stomach, will produce spasms and death in a 
short time. How, then, is it that so many persons 
use it? The answer is, it is not until nature is 
treated with violence, and reason itself made to yield 
to habit and fashion. It is an appetite created by 
violating nature and reason. It is something in the 
system, like the mistletoe on an elm, a parasite, 
striking its roots into a nobler plant than itself, green 
and fresh itself, but exhausting to what it grows on. 



TOBACCO. 



283 



As the mistletoe among the trees of the forest, so are 
the pleasures of tobacco among the good things of 
nature. Or, in stronger words still, men commit sin 
to obtain pleasure, when, if it were not for sin, there 
would be nothing but pleasure. Tobacco pleasure is 
like the pleasure of borrowing money on which to 
feel rich ; it must be paid back with interest. Nature 
is not stingy with her pleasures, but will have her 
own way, and whoever attempts any other way is as 
one who tries to launch his boat where there is 
no water. 

There are many ways by which the pleasures of 
tobacco cost more than they are worth. Here is one 
not often thought of, perhaps. The taste is blunted 
for natural food. That fine, keen, pleasurable sensa- 
tion that a healthy natural appetite gives, is greatly 
diminished by tobacco, not only by vitiating the nerv- 
ous system and injuring the digestive organs, but 
the organs of taste, the papillae, and membranes of 
the mouth are treated to such acrid juice or empyreu- 
matic oil, that they undergo a kind of tanning process. 
It acts just as certain kinds of employment, when 
long continued, injure the delicate sense of hearing, 
such as boiler-making, where the ear has to endure 
loud and stunning sounds for a long time. But it is 
no common evil, for which amends can be made, or 
repentance and reformation restore. It rents out a 
part of your manhood to be paid for with a little di- 
luted carnal pleasure, leaving the tenement damaged 
for life. 



284 



ESSAYS. 



But we know how hard it is to argue against ap- 
petite. It reminds us of an incident that once hap- 
pened in a stage-coach near Chillicothe, Ohio. The 
passengers had traveled and conversed pleasantly for 
several miles, all happening to be temperance men. 
But at one of the way-stations another passenger got 
in, and it was instantly discovered that he was a 
strong-smelling drunkard. The other passengers de- 
termined to make the best of the case possible, so 
they all commenced talking about intemperance, 
showing up the terrible nature of the habit, and the 
disgusting breath of a drunkard, till they had about 
exhausted the subject. All this time they waited and 
expected the new passenger would make some reply ; 
but, though he seemed to listen with attention, he had 
not one word to say. Nor could they in any way 
draw him into conversation on the subject, nor get any 
thing out of him but his breath. But just as the 
stage stopped at the end of the journey, and they 
were all getting out, the quiet man remarked: "Well, 
gentlemen, I have listened to all you have said; you 
reason well, but none of you know hoiv dry I am!" 
So, when the bodily passions are set in motion, every 
thing fails. But, to sum up the physical evils in a 
few words : 

1. It is unnatural, being an acquired habit 
against reason, well-being, and the best physical 
development. 

2. It is deplored and condemned by all high med- 
ical authority, and given as the cause of many terrible 



TOBACCO. 



285 



diseases, such as palsy, palpitation of the heart, 
dyspepsia, etc. 

3. It is a deceptive pleasure, for, while it gives 
little, it takes much. 

4. It is a destroyer of bodies that should be 
temples of the Holy Ghost, bearing the image of God. 

5. It is a life-long inconvenience as if one 
carried a leaky vessel every-where, and could not 
have it mended, or leave it at home, or conceal its 
inconvenience. 

II. Mentally. 

" Mind is the measure of the man," said Watts; and 
" knowledge is power," said Bacon. Man is a name 
high in the orders of intelligences, wonderful incapaci- 
ties and powers, depending, however, much upon the 
state of the body with which he is mysteriously con- 
nected. The best state of the body for mental de- 
velopment, ease, and strength, is perfect health, espe- 
cially of the brain and nerves. Man is head and lord 
of the lower creation — walking upright, with kingly 
authority, among all animated nature, arched with in- 
tellect, and prepared by the munificent hand of his 
Creator, to go forth the superintendent and owner of 
the world. From this high and honorable distinction, 
with what aversion and scorn he should look down on 
any thing that would, in any way, take down these 
powers and honors. Strange that it should be in the 
shape of a weed, and it with no attractive leaf, or 
flower, or odor, or nourishment ; but one of the ugliest 



286 



ESSAYS. 



and most sickening of all the thousands of kinds 
that grow out of the earth — nature herself being 
judge ! This powerful narcotic will take down the 
mental powers beyond all question — quench their fires 
and put out their stars. And when the intellectual 
powers are taken down, and the animal powers left, 
and, in this case, strengthened, manhood drifts rap- 
idly toward beasthood. Then often follow other kinds 
of intemperance, such as ardent spirits and opium, 
which hurry the man to destruction. 

It is well known by practical educators, that stu- 
dents who use tobacco are so becalmed and dulled in 
their mental powers that study is a task, and memory 
becomes an unwilling slave. In many cases sleep has 
to be fought off like an intruder. Many a student 
has thus become discouraged at the difficulty that 
seemed before him, and left the college, never think- 
ing it was the foe that went into his mouth that stole 
away his brains. How can any one reflect a moment 
on the greatness of being endowed with rational fac- 
ulties, even with the natural image of the Creator, 
and not value it above all temporal things ! And as 
to pleasure, the mind is itself the seat of true pleas- 
ure ; and when kept pure, an unfailing source of the 
highest and richest enjoyment, compared with which 
the low, dreamy gratification from opium or tobacco 
is as the capacity of brutes compared with those of 
men or angels. 

Let any young man remember that if he begins 
this habit he becomes a worse kind of a man than 



TOBACCO. 



287 



he would be without it, for all time to come — men- 
tally smaller and weaker, and with the animal pro- 
pensities larger and stronger, so that, .in the race for 
the mastery, the better part has a burden to carry, 
and the baser powers are sharpened. But he will 
say, " I can quit." Ah, there is the fatal delusion ! 
Every one tries, but how few succeed ! Perhaps not 
one in five hundred. The beginning of this habit is 
like the throat of a fishing-net, round and even and- 
tapering, and easy to find while going in; but when 
the poor fish would come out, it finds the net is not 
made for that. Few things are more trying to hu- 
man resolution than to break oif from this inveterate 
habit, and whoever begins might almost consider that 
the die is cast for life. Not that it is impossible, or 
that it never has been done, but it is very improbable 
and very distressing to try, and, if accomplished, will 
not likely last long. 

But to sum up what we have to say on this part 
of the subject : 

1. A being of such exalted powers should not 
stoop to be drugged out of a part of his senses. 

2. It is particularly injurious to the student — that 
most interesting class of persons on whom the wel- 
fare of the Church and State so greatly depends. 

3. It is the greatest cause of drunkenness ; for 
whoever knew of one that did not use tobacco ? 

4. It is a mental delusion, as well as an appetite, 
which is not discovered till too late ; for every boy 
that begins is very sure he can quit with ease, when 



288 



ESSAYS. 



the fact is, he afterward finds there is scarcely any 
thing more difficult, 

III. MOKALLY. 

We have but one life to live before we pass into 
our eternal state, and on this life depends all the hap- 
piness, or misery, that ceaseless ages can bring. We 
have no time nor strength to spare in this race. 
Perhaps no period of our life, through all eternity, is 
as important as this. And certainly it is no time to 
turn aside and sit down to flesh-pleasing. Natural 
depravity has already power enough, and the carnal 
mind enmity enough. The use of tobacco is wholly 
carnal, and is doing directly what the Bible positively 
commands not to be done. " Make no provision for 
the flesh." We do sometimes hear a weak argument 
for its use ; but no man ever advised his son to use 
it. No minister likes to have it known that he uses 
it, as we judge from the frequent attempts some 
make to conceal it. 

How far a person may be induced to believe a 
thing is right when it is wrong, we can not stop to 
argue ; but this disgusting habit is so manifestly con- 
trary to the dictates of nature, and the pure doctrines 
of Scripture, that we think most persons in this Chris- 
tian country know that it is wrong. In pagan coun- 
tries, where the filth of the flesh and spirit holds al- 
most undisturbed rule, perhaps it would be too strong 
to say they know better. In those countries both 
men and women use tobacco, but the light of nature 



TOBACCO. 



289 



is dim, and Revelation they have not yet received ; so 
we are not so much surprised at the prevalence of 
it there. 

When the evil is mentioned in the presence of 
those who use it, they will generally admit it without 
reply; but when this is not the case, it is a common 
thing to hear a jocular argument in its favor, showing 
that there are really no candid reasons for the use of 
it. The writer once took some pains to set forth the 
evils to a brother with whom there was the most per- 
fect friendship and confidence. He listened atten- 
tively till our arguments were presented, and then 
made the following reply : " You need not have taken 
so much time and trouble to argue this matter; you 
might have stated it in fewer words. Why did you 
not just say, it is wrong?' Perhaps this would be 
the candid admission of nearly all that use it, as we 
may judge from their repeated attempts to quit. 

But, if wrong, how great the wrong ! It would 
be wrong to injure our own house, or dumb brute, or 
to damage any kind of valuable property ; but how 
much more this body and soul, with all its valuable 
structures and functions — the body to be a temple of 
the Holy Ghost, and the mind to be made like the 
mind of Christ, and enjoy his love and admire his 
glory forever! Cleanliness is a well-known mark of 
Christian civilization, just as dirt and poverty are 
marks of paganism. But how impossible for any 
mortal to use tobacco and keep clean. We have 
known persons to maintain a very gentlemanly ap- 

2 5 



290 



ESSAYS. 



pearance at first, and even boast that no one would 
know that it was used; but after a few years their 
presence would fill all the space around about with 
odor entirely unperceived by themselves, and without 
being at all aware of their own change, in clothes, 
hair, beard, and breath, to say nothing of the horrid 
deposits of animal and vegetable matter round and 
about old teeth ; and blue, red, and livid gums, all un- 
dergoing changes, and absorbing and giving off gases 
that would puzzle Sir Humphrey Davy to name. 
There is a moral wrong, and, perhaps, the greatest of 
all, though not always perceived by its instigators — 
it is the example set before children, inducing them 
to begin this habit, and then its evils go on from one 
to another progressively, sometimes the scholar pass- 
ing the teacher. 

One thing so greatly to be deplored is, that some- 
times the habit is copied from a member of the 
Church, or, still worse, from a minister. Even a 
father may start his own son out on a course of in- 
temperance in this thoughtless way, till from one 
thing to another he sees the fatal mistake, when it is 
too late. 

We have said tobacco leads to drunkenness. Any 
one that will take a little pains, will see how insepa- 
rably they are connected. Not that every tobacco- 
man is a drunkard, but every drunkard uses tobacco. 
We do not say that there never was an exception, 
but, after diligent inquiry, not one has yet been 
found. This is easily accounted for. The acquired 



TOBACCO. 



291 



and morbid appetite after a while is not satisfied, and 
craves something stronger, just as an opium-eater 
keeps increasing the dose, until he can take what 
would kill a dozen other men. Let every parent 
know, then, that as learning the A B C's makes it 
easy to spell, so, when your son can stand tobacco, it 
will be made easier to take something stronger. 
He may never be a drunkard, but if circumstances 
should be favorable, it is made easy. Some may 
differ with our position, but, from long and close ob- 
servation, we have no doubt but nearly all drunkards 
begin with tobacco. It stands about thus : Tobacco, 
Beer, Ale, WHISKY ! 

To sum up what we have to say on this part of 
the subject: 

1. Life is too short, and eternity too long, and 
both too intensely interesting to have our best powers 
befogged by either opium, tobacco, or any other drug. 

2. We have propensities enough already without 
inviting another. The doors of carnal sense are wide 
enough without opening others. 

3. If cleanliness is next to godliness, as Mr. Wes- 
ley said, then it will be difficult to have godliness and 
tobacco too. 

4. Arguments excusing it are generally insincere, 
or in the form of joke or repartee, showing how hard 
it is to defend such a palpable evil. 

5. If the person should be a member of the 
Church of medium liberality, he must have the uncom- 
fortable thought that he is spending more to gratify 



292 



ESSAYS. 



his carnal lusts than to spread the Gospel ; and if he 
is a minister, he must frequently be at a loss to know 
how to preach on self-denial, purity, and many other 
doctrines. 

6. It is a slow, certain, stealthy schooling to the 
carnal appetite, leading on from one step to another, 
for which many excuses are made, but, after all, it is 
only evil, and that continually. 

7. If all the chewers, smokers, snuffers, dippers, 
and rubbers were to vote on the question of beginning 
it again, they would say no by an overwhelming 
majority. 

IV. Socially. 

Any evil affecting individuals is sure to affect the 
whole community, and sometimes grievously. The 
evils resulting to the whole country from the use of 
narcotics, are enormous. 

First, the personal evils. No tobacco-smoker 
knows how much he annoys others. No man can see 
his own eyes without a glass; neither can any man 
smell his own breath. There are various kinds of 
stenches, but to most persons who are in the habit of 
breathing pure air, a tobacco-breath is one of the most 
sickening of smells. It is not, as some think, a mere 
whim, but a real offense against nature, not easily 
endured. Some tobacco-smokers have no patience 
with a crying child, or even the chattering of a few 
canary-birds, not thinking that this is a mere trifle to 
what their friends have silently to endure every day 



TOBACCO. 



293 



from another source — one the auditory, the other the 
olfactory nerve. But a little consideration will show 
that harsh sounds may be less annoying than nause- 
ous fumes; the one is proximate, the other remote. 
Sound reaches you through the medium of undula- 
tions, but tobacco fumes come in substance, and you 
must take it as mixed for you. -Take it or run, or 
cease to breathe; and not on the outside skin, but 
take it down into your lungs, and keep taking it at 
every breath while you are associated with one that 
will laugh at your objections, and tell you it is a 
whim. What some poor, delicate women suffer through 
life from this annoyance, can never be known by any 
but themselves. Their only course is quiet, patient 
endurance. But let those not yet " made one flesh, 7 ' 
see what kind of flesh they are to be made one with. 

Another great social evil is the leakage from the 
spitters, who might be classed into splashers and 
squirters. Who has traveled on our public thorough- 
fares without meeting these disgusting sights at almost 
every step ? Even the house of the Lord is not 
exempt. Many of these spitters were, no doubt, well 
raised, and commenced this practice with much cau- 
tion, and for a while took care to be nice and polite ; 
but a gradual familiarity with smells and sights of this 
kind took away that fine sense of propriety, so that 
some of these very persons can sit down on a boat or 
platform amid nauseousness, from which a healthy dog 
might turn away. Such is the power of habit. We 
do not accuse all these of being hard-hearted or 



294 



ESSAYS. 



impolite; on the contrary, many of them are amiable 
gentlemen; but we are sure they aro not always 
aware of the annoyance they are to their friends. 
They have become so familiar with the weed them- 
selves, and see it so prevalent, and even draw some 
gratification from it, that they become like dentists 
and surgeons, gradually insensible to the sufferings 
of others. 

Many look with indifference on the tobacco busi- 
ness, as if it was a trifling evil and slight expense, and 
an indulgence that may or may not be practiced with 
but little difference. Few persons are aware of the 
greatness of the business and the enormous cost of 
it. Let no one be skeptical at our statements, for 
they shall be made according to the printed tables of 
the Government, where statistics are to be found, 
principally from the finance report of 1866. Let it 
be remembered that these tables are nearly all too 
low, and if they err it is on that side. The amount 
of tobacco raised in the United States for 1866 was 
434,209,461 pounds. This would be about fourteen 
pounds to each individual (after deductions are made 
for exports above imports), its value at a low rate, 
being governed by the way it sells in market, would 
be one hundred and twenty millions of dollars. 

In 1860 there were one hundred and seventy-three 
millions of bushels of wheat raised in the United States, 
which, at two dollars per bushel, would amount to 
three hundred and forty-six millions of dollars, so 
that we see how tobacco costs more than one-third as 



TOBACCO. 



295 



much as the entire wheat crop. And as women and 
children, especially in the Northern States, do not 
use tobacco, it follows that tobacco people spend more 
for it than their bread. 

Tobacco consumers would use up all the annual 
gold product of the United States in four months. 
All the vast wealth from the iron trade, when all the 
powerful blast furnaces are in full operation, would 
not furnish the tobacco consumers their accustomed 
amount for two months in a year. 

Much has been said about coffee and tea being 
expensive; but all the coffee converted into tobacco 
would not furnish one- sixth part enough to supply 
the demand, and the tea not one-twelfth enough. 
One great staple of this country is wool. Our annual 
production is valued at sixty millions of dollars ; but 
the chewers and smokers could use this sum in half a 
year. This also shows that, as only a part of the 
population use tobacco, they consume more than their 
clothing is worth. Even the enormous cost of war, 
now fresh in our minds in this country, taking the 
whole period of our nation's history, does not nearly 
come up to the cost of our tobacco. Now all this 
vast expenditure of money, labor, and time, to say 
nothing of the uncomputed evils of other kinds, is a 
great national disgrace and sin ; and men set to watch 
for the morals and religion of the people should not 
be silent. 

But to sum up what we have to say on the last 
part of our subject. 



296 



ESSAYS. 



1. It is a great social grievance when one part of 
community, especially women, suffer from the intem- 
perance of the other part. 

2. Tobacco people themselves would not suffer 
half this annoyance, especially from women, without 
bitter complaint; and, perhaps, in many cases, re- 
sistance. 

3. Because a few polite and considerate gentle- 
men use tobacco, that is no argument against the 
main question, but rather to popularize a vice. 

4. One part of community has no right to expend 
large sums of money to lavish on their lusts, while 
the other part have to suffer in consequence. 

5. It retards our national progress, phyically, 
mentally, morally, and socially. 

6. It is condemned by nature and revelation, and 
by all the wisest and best men, and must be hateful 
to God himself. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

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